AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 


ADAM  G.  DE  GUROWSKI. 


NEW   YOEK: 
D.   APPLETON  AND   COMPANY, 

346   &  348  BROADWAY. 

M.DCCC.LVn. 


ing  to  AM  of  Cbkgroos,  In  the  year  1857, 
BY  D.  APPLETON  AND  COMPANY, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
Southern  District  of  New  York. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

CHAP.  I.— POPULATION,  EACES,        .....  1 

II. — CHARACTER,    ......  60 

III. — DEMOCRACY,         ......  76 

IV. — SELF-GOVERNMENT,    .....  127 

V.—  SLAVERY,  .                       .....  169 

VI. — MANIFEST  DESTINY,    .....  230 

VII. — FOREIGN  ELEMENTS,          .....  259 

VIII.— EDUCATION,     ......  287 

IX.— THE  PRESS, 309 

X.— THE  PULPIT,    ......  323 

XI.— THE  AMERICAN  MIND,      .  .  .  .  .333 

XII. — CUSTOMS,  HABITS,  MANNERS,  ETC.,     .           .           .  366 
XIII.— COUNTRY  AND  CITY,          .            .            .            .            .393 

CONCLUSION,    ......  409 


M103925 


AMERICA,  the  progeny  of  Europe,  differs  from  the 
generator  in  many  of  the  most  salient  features  of 
her  social  and  political  organisms,  differs  in  public 
and  domestic  life.  To  point  out  these  dissimilari 
ties,  to  ascertain  their  sources,  is  the  aim  of  the  fol 
lowing  pages. 

A  rapid  and  succinct  view  of  human  affairs 
and  events,  as  far  back  as  the  dimmest  light  of 
history  extends,  shows  that  the  diversified  aspects 
of  civilization  have  been  successively  elaborated 
through  different  people  and  at  different  eras.  It 
demonstrates  that  the  civilizing  impulses  have  been 
inherent,  inborn  in  man,  of  almost  all  historical  ra 
ces  and  nations,  and  in  various  regions  and  cli 
mates.  A  higher  principle  has  inspired,  mightier 
laws  have  presided  over  the  destinies  of  mankind, 
than  the  exclusively  physical  law  of  races.  Human 
ity  soars  above  races  and  nationalities.  However 
active,  and  at  times,  however  seemingly  all-powerful 
may  have  been  the  agency  of  the  law  of  races,  it 
has  never  been  paramount. 

In  the  progressive  development  of  man,  in 
the  march,  the  oscillations  of  civilization,  the  law 
of  races,  now  scarcely  perceptibly,  then  more  dis 
tinctly  but  well-nigh  uninterruptedly,  has  receded 


VI 

before  the  more  elevated,  nobler,  and  more  truly  hi 
mane  principles  and  incentives  of  man's  mental  fa< 
ulties,  aspirations,  and  actions.  In  America  thes 
principles  and  laws  have  been  put  in  action  with 
fulness  unwonted  and  impossible  in  the  old  worl( 
generating  here  a  social  state  and  evolving  institi 
tions  almost  unknown  to  the  past. 

The  social  and  historical  standpoint  reached  b 
America,  solves  several  problems,  which  up  to  tli 
time  have  been  distinctly  regarded  as  nearly  ins* 
lublc,  from  epoch  to  epoch,  from  generation  to  gei 
eration. 

Man  as  a  unit,  in  the  free  untrammelled  deve 
opment  of  his  individuality,  has  been  more  or  lei 
thoroughly  absorbed  in  various  aspects  and  wa^ 
for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  ;  and  was  so  even  in  th 
freest  ancient  or  European  communities  and  state 
In  principle  and  in  fact,  individuality  has  been  an 
is  still  limited,  circumscribed,  compressed.  This 
the  case  in  the  still^  surviving  social  structures,  i 
well  as  in  the  ancifcnt  and  modern  theories  of  in 
tiators,  innovators,  socialists,  reformers,  of  whatevc 
name  and  principle,  with  a  few  rare  exception 
For  the  first  time  in  free  America,  man's  individi 
ality  has  been  normally  fixed  and  established,  i 
rights  asserted  and  realized.  Fourier's  theories  c 
association,  hitherto  abstract  and  unrealizable,  bi 
wantonly  and  ignorantly  confounded  with  what 
commonly  called  socialism — these  theories  alor 
reveal  a  higher,  more  scientific,  and  therefore  full* 
scope  and  guarantee  for  the  developement  of  ind 
viduality,  for  the  play  of  its  moral,  mental,  an 


Vll 

physical  powers  and  activities.     But  America  fills 
the  present,  throws  effulgent  rays  into  the  future. 

Authority  and  liberty  have  always  struggled 
for  pre-eminence  and  leadership  over  the  historical 
development,  and  the  domestic  hearth  of  nations. 
The  past  has  witnessed  countless  centuries  of  the 
reign  of  authority,  religious,  political,  social,  and  gov 
ernmental  ;  and  comparatively,  only  lightning-like 
flashes  of  that  of  liberty.  The  former  always  endea 
voring  to  recover  the  lost  ground,  to  seize  the  supre 
macy  over  man's  mind  and  his  social  economy. 
Moralists,  men  of  genius  as  Dante,  philosophers, 
statesmen,  have  continually  attempted  to  conciliate 
the  two  antagonistic  principles  and  forces,  to  mo 
dify  or  reduce  their  extremes,  to  bring  them  into 
peaceful  juxtaposition,  to  -find  in  their  combination 
an  equipoise  for  society.  Some  way  or  other,  how 
ever,  authority  gets  the  lion's  share  in  theory  as  in 
practice.  Here  the  relations  of  authority  and  lib 
erty  to  each  other  and  to  man  have  received  a 
new  and  elementary  realization. 

The  principles  from  which  the  institutions  of 
America  have  been  evolved,  form  the  source  of  her 
material  prosperity.  It  does  not  enter  within  the 
range  of  this  work  to  detail  the  giant  steps  of  her 
progress,  nor  to  present  statistical  comparisons. 
Statistics,  even  the  most  detailed  and  complete, 
never  axiomatic  and  conclusive  in  themselves, 
serve  only  to  elucidate  and  verify  the  soundness  and 
potency  of  a  dominant  social  and  governmental 
system.  And  the  universally  admitted  prosperity 
of  America,  wants  not  a  statistical  confirmation. 


Vlll 

Generalizations  always  embrace  all  existing  or 
presumable  exceptions.  To  specify  these,  would 
have  been  tedious  or  altogether  impossible.  For 
good  or  for  bad,  for  large  or  smaller  contingencies, 
exceptions  are  implied  in  the  generalizations,  which 
constitute  the  strictures  of  comparison  between 
America  and  Europe,  or  relate  to  customs,  manners, 
habits,  and  usages.  A  few  scattered  mountains  or 
hills  do  not  constitute  the  general  physiognomy  of 
a  country,  a  few  warm  or  cold  months  do  not  make 
a  soft  or  a  rigid  climate,  a  few  brave  men.  or  cow 
ards  do  not  make  an  army  fight,  win,  or  run.  The 
same  axiom  applies  to  social  and  political  condi 
tions,  to  the  appreciation  of  the  most  various  and 
minute  public  or  private  relations,  to  the  moral,  so 
cial,  and  domestic  character  of  a  land  and  its  inhab 
itants. 


AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

RACES,   POPULATION. 

A  LEADING  social  feature  distinguishes  America  from  the 
European  nations.  This  is  the  union  of  the  utmost  indi 
vidual  independence  and  equality  with  a  well-regulated 
social  and  political  organization.  This  radical  difference 
already  existed  in  the  germs  out  of  which  sprang  the 
ancient,  the  European  civilization,  and  this  new  world.  In 
both  cases,  the  embryo  was  different.  Different  was  the  his 
torical  process  of  formation.  A  principle  begot  the  Ame 
rican  society ;  force  and  conquest  were  the  parents  of  the 
ancient  one. 

To  the  various  characteristics  of  races  are  nowadays 
ascribed  the  various  manifestations  of  social  structures  and 
civilizations,  in  their  progressive  unfolding.  Such  charac 
teristics,  wholly  physical  in  their  nature,  are  set  up  as  ex 
clusive  and  omnipotent  agencies  in  the  development  of 
human  destinies.  They  are  supposed  to  constitute  the 
power  of  man  to  elevate  his  existence,  to  elaborate  the 
various  conditions  of  his  social  culture.  To  those  charac- 
1 


2  AMEKICA   AND   EUROPE. 

teristics  are  subordinated  all  the  other  incentives  and 
inspirations,  which  stimulate  man's  unappeasable  activity  ; 
nay,  they  are  said  to  constitute  his  mental  and  moral  essence. 

.By  the  oscijlatipns  whieh  mark  the  development  of  the 
worldtsVh?story,\iie»c£nti'io,^he  focus  of  civilization,  became 
displaced  fnom^  South  tto  .North.  Now  a  verdict  contrary 
tl>'j£isi6fi{>a}4.e£i8£jic,e.:  pV^claitos  the  so-called  southern 
races  of  every  region,  of  each  hemisphere,  to  be  deprived 
of  initiative,  of  active  powers,  in  the  labors  and  struggles 
for  social  amelioration.  On  account  of  the  climate,  and 
of  certain  presumed  anatomical  dissimilarities,  they  arc 
declared  to  be  too  weak  morally  for  freedom ;  too  weak 
physically  to  be  its  supports  and  sanctuary. 

In  man,  however,  as  in  the  universe,  every  thing  is 
wonderfully  united.  In  all  regions  and  in  all  conditions,  he 
is  endowed  with  the  germs  of  similar  passions,  inclinations, 
tendencies,  aspirations.  Their  development  and  play,  ac 
tuated  by  the  events  and  conditions  which  surround  and 
press  upon  him,  carry  man  decidedly  astray  at  times  in  a 
special  direction,  or  keep  him  more  fully  under  the  influ 
ence  of  his  purer  anti  indestructible  essence.  This  law 
— if  positive,  well-defined  laws  are  to  be  recognized — is 
human  in  its  nature,  all-embracing,  and  more  elastic  and 
expanding  than  that  which,  according  to  the  variety  of 
races  and  of  their  dwellings,  distributes  their  participation 
and  significance  in  the  eternal  epos  of  our  social  destinies. 

Societies,  nations,  and  states  move,  act  and  live  by  the 
combination  of  facts  and  events  of  the  external  world  with 
internal  human  impulses  and  propensities.  Sometimes  the 
higher  human  powers  succumb  under  the  pressure  of  exter 
nal,  and  merely  material  circumstances.  Herein  the  true 
cause  is  to  be  found,  amidst  many  explications,  of  the 
fluctuations  of  civilization,  of  its  slow  march,  of  its  difficult 
expansion  even  in  one  and  the  same  nation,  dwelling  in 


RACES,    POPULATION.  3 

the  same  region.  Moreover,  because,  by  the  fortuitous 
concourse  of  events,  a  nation,  mostly  forming  a  small 
branch  of  what  ethnologically  is  called  race,  and  favored 
by  peculiar  combinations,  has  often  become  a  leader  of  a 
given  epoch,  such  ascendency  was  not  predestined  nor 
permanent.  There  have  been  several  Ionic  States,  but 
only  one  Athena,  and  the  Beotians  were  likewise  Greeks. 
The  same  phenomenon  is  reproduced  in  the  development 
of  all  the  cardinal  and  secondary  races. 

The  lights  which  illuminate  the  orbits  of  the  human 
race  were  not  enkindled  simultaneously,  but  one  by  one. 
They  radiated  in  various  directions.  Neither  North  nor 
South,  neither  this  nor  that  primordial  race,  nor  any  branch 
issuing  therefrom,  has  been,  in  ancient  or  in  Christian 
times,  the  exclusive  and  predestined  holder  of  the  sacred 
fire.  So  neither  the  man  of  the  North  nor  that  of  the 
Southj  is  exclusively  endowed  with  the  love  of  liberty,  or 
with  exclusive  mental  and  physical  powers  to  secure  and 
to  sustain  it.  There  is  no  social  or  historical  law  by  which 
a  special  race  is  intrusted  with  the  highest  gifts  which 
alone  constitute  the  supremacy  of  man  over  the  inferior 
creation.  The  tendency  to  happiness  is  common  to  all,  as 
well  as  the  efforts  for  amelioration.  These  tendencies 
manifest  themselves  differently,  and  at  various  epochs 
among  various  nations.  They  are  evoked  by  accidents  of 
human  character,  and  constitute  the  brightest  phenomena 
in  the  ascending  movement  of  humanity.  Their  investiga 
tion  unravels  the  laws  by  whose  action  nations  appear  and 
march  on  the  stage  of  history. 

And  if  there  is  an  absolute  historical  law,  revealed  by 
the  uninterrupted  labor  of  the  human  race,  by  its  strug 
gles  with  nature  and  with  itself,  by  the  bloody  as  well  as 
the  luminous  pages  which  fill  history,  by  the  efforts  for 
ameliorating  the  moral  and  material  state  wherein  consists 


AMEEICA    AND   EUROPE. 

civilization,  by  the  religious  and  philosophical  speculations 
enkindled  in  the  succession  of  ages,  by  the  multifarious 
manifestations  of  the  human  spirit  in  literature,  in  refine 
ment,  in   arts,  in  industrial,  mechanical,  and  agricultural 
pursuits — it  is  the  law  of  the  successive  appearance  of  races 
and  nations  in  the  course  of  history.     It  is  the  law  of 
transmission  from  one  to  another  of  the  sacred  fire  of 
civilization ;  it  is  the  succession  of  nations  to  each  other  on 
the  foreground  of  the  events  of  ages.     Not  simultaneously 
in  all  places,  and  by  all  races  and  nations,  but  in  succession 
is  civilization  to  be  elaborated.     When  the  time  had  ar 
rived  for  calling  a  people  to  light  and  truth,  it  mattered 
not  whether  it  lived  amid  the  snows  of  Scandinavia,  or  on 
the  burning  plains  of  India.     The  cause  of  this  law  has 
hitherto  been  hidden,  unexplained,  but  the  law  speaks  to 
the  mind  from  all  the* pages,  from  all  the  events,  from  all 
the  evolutions  of  history.     There  is  no  absolute  reason 
why  the  light  of  civilization  should  not  have  spread  simul 
taneously  over  the  plains  of  Iran  and  over  those  of  Ger 
many — especially  as  branches  of  the  same   stock,  of  the 
same  family  or  race,  extended,  moved,  lived,  worked,  suf 
fered  and  enjoyed  over  this  space.     But  perhaps  more  than 
forty  centuries  elapsed  before  the  light,  already  shining 
and  evoking  a  higher  life  south  of  the  Himalaya  and  along 
the  Indus,  reached  the  Rhine  and  the  Atlantic.     And  in 
that  space  and  time,  how  many,  and  how  variously  endowed 
actors,  how  many  fertile  ideas,  and  mental  and  social  mani 
festations,  what  various  utterances  of  the  human  mind  have 
filled  the  ages,  succeeded  to  each  other,  all  of  them  in 
turns  initiators  and  initiated  into  the  great,  mysterious  and 
nevertheless  luminous   sanctuary  of  human  development 
and  progress.     In  this  succession,  each  race  or  nation,  in 
its  time,  brought    its    offerings,  elaborated    one   or  even 
many  ideas,  according  to  its  own  peculiarity,  according  to 


RACES,    POPULATION.  5 

special  data  and  conditions.  But  the  impulse,  tlie  aspira 
tion  towards  progress  and  amelioration,  the  ethereal  sparks 
of  this  life-giving  fire,  how  different  its  manifestations;  it 
was  and  is  glimmering  in  the  mind,  in  the  bosom  of  man 
in  all  regions,  all  climes,  and  all  physical  conformations. 
A  luminous  current  of  culture  runs  throughout  the  whole 
history  of  the  race,  and  constitutes  its  development.  Some 
times  rapid  and  broad,  then  at  times  slow  and  dimmed,  but, 
never  interrupted.  The  tyranny  exercised  over  historical 
and  philosophical  studies  and  comprehension,  by  the  nar 
row-minded,  one-sighted  classicisms, — a  tyranny  resulting 
in  a  blind  confidence  and  devotion  to  the  axioms  and  ver 
dicts  of  Greek  and  Roman  writers, — overclouded  the  judg 
ment  of  sound,  impartial  .reason.  Thus,  on  Greek  civiliza 
tion  and  philosophy  was  bestowed  a  power  of  virtual 
originality  and  self-creation  unjustified  by  the  investigation 
into  the  history  of  human  development.  In  our  times, 
another  tyranny  prevails  and  overshadows  the  mind ;  a 
tyranny  more  exclusive,  because  concentrating  in  one  race 
all  the  better  and  higher  endowments  of  man,  endowments 
constituting  the  higher  essence  in  which  consists  the  cul 
ture  of  our  time.  It  is  presumptuously  asserted,  that  only 
northern  races  are  enabled  to  achieve  civilization,  in  all  its 
various  mental,  social,  and  material  manifestations;  that 
only  a  few  northern  nations  are  the  exclusive  bearers  and 
the  agents  of  the  culture  of  the  globe.  Thus  the  modern 
post-Roman  civilization — according  to  this  haughty  verdict 
— is  exclusively  worked  out  by  the  German  mind,  the 
German  race.  On  this  continent,  freedom,  democracy,  ac 
tivity,  those  highest  goods  and  conditions  of  the  happiness 
of  man,  are  to  form  in  their  turn,  preeminently,  if  not  ex 
clusively,  the  lot  of  a  single  family — the  Anglo-Saxon  one. 
How  little  history  justifies  all  this  sweeping  range  of  asser 
tions,  can  be  shown  by  taking  the  evidence  even  at  random 


O  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

which  is  amply  scattered  over  its  pages.  History  demon 
strates  that  neither  climate  nor  certain  geographical  con 
ditions  enervate  mind  and  body,  disabling  men  from  mental 
and  industrial  laborious  activity.  It  shows  that  man  is 
subject  to  these  powerful  external  influences,  that  under 
their  action  the  events  of  his  life  are  variously  combined 
and  manifested.  Man  reacts  on  all  nature  or  the  medium 
wherein  he  moves  and  works.  Every  thing  in  creation  is 
subject  to  reciprocal  action, — stagnation  is  death.  Man  is 
the  centre,  the  focus  of  the  universe ;  in  him  nature  or  mat 
ter  reaches  the  highest  combination  with  mind.  Thus  he 
reproduces  and  reflects  all  the  countless  variety  and  com 
binations  of  those  two  essences,  their  modifications  and 
graduations,  their  affinities,  repulsions,  attractions.  Thus 
he  is  versatile  in  his  utterances  and  actions,  in  his  modes 
and  methods,  in  his  ways  of  shaping  out  the  fruits  of  his 
mental  and  plastic  productivity.  For  this  reason,  in  cer 
tain  conditions,  under  certain  combinations  of  events  and 
of  influences,  under  the  inward  impulse  of  faculties  and 
propensities,  some  of  th^m  may  acquire  greater  fulness  and 
power  of  expansion  than  others;  these  in  this  manner  becom 
ing  crushed,  crowded  out,  remaining  in  an  embryonic  state. 
So  in  inorganic  as  in  organic  nature — from  various  pro 
portions  and  combinations  of  rather  a  small  number  of 
chemical  elements,  come  forth  an  innumerable  variety  of 
ores  and  stones,  of  colors,  flavors,  tastes,  of  forms  and  pow 
ers  in  the  vegetable  and  in  the  animal  realm. 

The  greatest,  the  most  crushing  and  difficult  material 
works  and  labors  have  been  accomplished  in  the  hot  re 
gions  of  Asia,  at  epochs  when  man  did  not  possess  such 
various  scientific  means  and  tools  to  bridle  and  master  the 
reluctant  elements  of  nature.  There  at  remote  times  was 
first  accomplished  the  hardest,  the  rudimental  task  of 
civilization.  To-day  a  blast  of  powder  severs  immense 


RACES,    POPULATION.  7 

blocks  of  granite ;  machinery  cuts,  separates  and  carries 
them  to  various  destinations.  But  are  the  first  inventors 
in  mechanics  not  even  more  astonishing  than  those  who 
inherited  the  results  of  their  efforts,  and  of  their  suc 
cessful  or  frustrated  attempts  ?  The  man  who  understood 
and  applied  the  first  rudiments  of  mechanics,  probably 
spent  as  much  power  of  observation,  combination  and  cal 
culation  as  did  Fulton,  for  whom  the  former  prepared  and 
smoothed  the  path.  And  so  with  all  other  sciences,  in 
ventions,  industries  and  productions.  Daily  experience 
shows  how  unconquerable  and  deadly  to  man  is  the  exu 
berant  vegetation  of  hot  and  tropical  regions,  how  difficult 
in  those  regions  to  subject  nature  to  the  power,  to  the  will, 
to  the  handling  of  man.  Far  more  in  the  Southern  clime 
does  nature  resist  and  defend  itself  than  in  that  of  the  less 
reproductive  and  moderate  North,  where  now  civilization 
shines  more  brightly.  But  the  plains  of  Egypt,  Syria, 
and  of  the  Indus,  cut  by  canals,  watered  by  art,  highly 
cultivated  and  nourishing  millions  and  millions  at  the  re 
motest  times,  those  regions  covered  then  with  rich,  power 
ful  and  monumental  cities,  swarming  with  industrious,  en 
terprising  and  therefore  skilful  and  intelligent  populations, 
bear  witness  to  the  falsehood  of  the  assertion  concerning 
the  inability  of  the  Southern  races  for  hard  labor,  and  of 
the  absolute  enervating  influence  of  climate.  What  an 
immense  amount  of  labor,  skill,  industry,  invention  were 
spent,  used  up,  before  those  regions  reached  that  high 
state  of  culture  which  they  enjoyed  forty  or  fifty  centu 
ries  ago.  The  gigantic  ruins  of  the  Egyptian  civilization 
show  a  high  degree  of  development  in  the  mechanical  and 
architectural  arts,  as  well  as  of  others.  And  the  Brah- 
ininic  remains  ?  Energy,  industry,  refinement  flourished 
on  the  Indus  when  Greece  was  probably  occupied  only  by 
savage  barbarians,  when  the  man  of  the  now  proud  North 


8  AMEKICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

had  scarcely  a  hovel  wherein  to  crouch,  or  the  skin  of  a  wild 
beast  to  cover  his  shivering  body.  In  their  times  those 
Southern  tropical  regions  were  the  seat  and  representa 
tives  of  the  highest  degree  of  culture  and  civilization, 
which  man  was  to  reach  in  a  given  epoch  ;  in  the  same 
way  as  the  man  of  the  Northern  regions  represents  it  now. 
Corresponding  mental  culture  of  course  was  the  twin,  or 
rather  the  incentive  to  material  progress,  and  mental  cul 
ture,  as  reproduced  in  a  higher  comprehension  of  social 
duties  in  social  organization,  manifested  itself  in  the  past, 
in  the  remotest  antiquity.  Love  of  country,  the  exten 
sion  over  all  members  of  a  given  society  of  the  means  of 
information,  the  absence  of  social  privileges  of  caste  can 
be  traced  out  to  nearly  immemorial  times,  even  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  the  Indo-European  family. 

The  antiquity  of  the  now  slightly  treated  Chinese  civ 
ilization  is  not  ascertained.  But  for  the  whole  period  of 
positive  history,  this  civilization  seems  to  have  made 
little  if  even  any  progress,  having  at  that  remote  epoch  al 
ready  reached  a  remarkably  diversified  and  eminent  devel 
opment.  It  is  still  arj  tmsolved  historical  problem,  whether 
the  Chinese  received  civilization  from  Egypt  or  India,  or 
transmitted  it  to  those  regions.  Such  an  antiquity  proves 
at  any  rate  an  inventive  and  exertive  power  of  the  Tura- 
nic  or  Altaic  race.  When  the  proud  Indo-Germans  were 
shrouded  in  torpidity  and  savageness,  the  Chinese  culti 
vated  the  soil,  the  arts;  had  various  manufactures,  had 
mental  development ;  the  art  of  writing  was  familiar  to 
them.  The  society  of  the  ancient,  as  well  as  of  the  Eu 
ropean  world,  was  and  is  based  on  distinctions  and  privi 
leges  of  castes ;  was  and  is  construed  out  of  social  super 
positions.  Slavery  under  various  forms  existed  among  all 
the  nations.  No  traces  of  either  of  these  evils  exist  in 
the  Chinese  social  structure.  Castes,  privileges  and  slavery 


BACES,    POPULATION.  9 

are  still  the  great  chains  obstructing,  impeding  the  free 
development  of  the  Christian,  as  they  did  that  of  the  an 
cient  world.  The  whole  social  history  is  the  reproduction 
of  the  struggles  and  of  the  attempts  of  men  to  free  them 
selves  from  those  troublesome  deformities.  The  highest 
conception  of  social  advancement  not  yet  attained  even  in 
our  epoch,  is  the  recognition  of  the  position  of  the  indi 
vidual  in  society,  not  according  to  inherited  privileges  and 
accidents  of  birth,  but  according  to  his  individually  ac 
quired  mental  and  scientific  distinctions  and  accomplish 
ments.  On  them,  however,  has  depended  social  position 
in  China  for  uncountable  centuries,  and  nowhere  are  to  be 
found  traces  of  existence  of  social,  civil  or  military  slavery. 
There  are,  to  be  sure,  many  black  spots  and  deficiences  in 
the  Chinese  social  state  and  civilization — many  wherein 
they  are  greatly  inferior,  but  from  the  other  side  the 
above-mentioned  phenomena  throw  many  of  our  boasted 
superiorities  into  the  shade.  Knowledge,  such  as  exists  in 
China,  is  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  whole  population ; 
and  with  all  our  facilities  for  printing  and  diffusing  of 
letters,  we  are  left  far  in  the  background  by  the  Chinese, 
among  whom  for  long  centuries  the  habit  of  reading  is  as 
general  among  the  masses  as  any  other  function  of  daily 
life.  Books  are  at  a  price  lower  than  the  smallest  alms. 
The  whole  Empire  forms  a  leaf,  covered  with  written  sen 
tences  and  axioms  of  their  moralists.  Schools  accord 
ingly  existed  there  for  the  masses  of  the  people  at  a  pe 
riod  when  European  nations  did  not  even  dream  of  the 
availability  of  learning.  Printing,  that  great  engine  of 
modern  progress,  was  probably  known  to  the  Chinese 
when  Harlem  was  a  wilderness.  The  use  of  powder  was 
undoubtedly  brought  to  Europe  from  China.  In  India 
the  education  of  the  people  through  public  schools,  the 
universal  knowledge  of  reading  and  writing,  date  back 


10  AMEEIOA   AND    EUROPE. 

from  a  time  when  neither  of  these  accomplishments  was 
thought  of  as  a  necessary  element  in  the  existence  of  the 
masses.  They  were  not  judged  indispensable  even  in 
Greece  and  Athens  ;  nor  even  for  long  centuries  afterwards 
in  Europe,  where  even  now  more  than  half  of  its  popula 
tion  is  wholly  illiterate.  The  Mahometan  conquest  and  the 
English  dominion  ruined  the  Hindoo  people,  destroyed 
schools,  destroyed  arts  and  industry.  Oppression  and  the 
turn  of  human  events  enervated  and  debased  these  regions, 
and  in  every  way  exerted  over  them  their  baneful  influ 
ence. 

The  facts  which  constitute  civilization,  are  scattered 
here  and  there  over  various  regions  and  various  nations. 
Times  and  circumstances  are  seemingly  confounded.  But 
there  is  a  wonderful  chain  stretching  over  the  course  of 
centuries,  enclosing  the  world  and  accommodating  itself  to 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  human  affairs. 

Many  civilizing  rays  warmed  Greece,  reaching  there 
from  the  East,  and  to  those  the  Greeks  and  the  Romans 
added  again  their  own  products.  When  the  men  of 
Northern  Europe  msfle  their  appearance  in  history,  they 
became  initiated  into  a  new  life  5  a  light  was  at  once 
transmitted  to  them,  and  however  feeble  were  its  morn 
ing  rays,  they  alone  quickened  the  germ  of  modern  civili 
zation.  The  love  of  freedom,  the  attempts  to  establish 
society  on  great  democratic  foundations  were  neither  the 
specialty  of  German  races,  nor  did  they  originate  with 
them.  Both  were  pre-existent  in  history ;  they  grew  to 
maturity  under  the  combined  action  of  Christianity  and 
human  events ;  and  the  indestructible  and  eternal  ele 
ment  in  the  essential  destiny  of  man. 

Two  races  especially  emerged  out  of  the  ruins  of  the 
Roman  Empire  and  inherited  its  civilization.  The  one, 
the  Celtic,  was  already  partly  interwoven  with  the  Ro- 


RACES,    POPULATION.  11 

man  civilization,  and  had  early  received  the  Christian 
vivifying  teaching.  From  the  Celts  emerged  the  Romanic 
nations,  as  they  are  now  called.  The  other  race,  the  Ger 
man,  broke  forth  furiously  and  savagely,  and  establishing 
itself  upon  the  Roman  ruins,  extended  a  dark  and  heavy 
shroud  over  the  dissolving  fabric  of  society.  The  labor 
of  centuries  was  required  to  reinvigorate  its  remaining  and 
feebly  smouldering  sparks,  which  were  again  to  warm  and 
stimulate  and  fertilize  the  minds  of  the  Northern  barbarians. 
But  as  they  are  the  last  comers  and  actors,  they  proclaim 
themselves  the  originators  and  creators  of  all  the  good  in 
modern  civilization.  Invoking  the  fallacious  and  super 
ficial  evidence  of  craniology  and  physiology,  they  assert 
that  the  comprehension  of  freedom  and  of  equality  was  ex 
clusively  located  in  their  brains.  But  history  overthrows 
the  condemnatory  verdicts,  and  teaches  that  the  fact  was 
the  reverse,  and  restores  to  their  due  share  the  disappeared, 
wasted  and  withered  races  and  nations. 

Paleontology  teaches  that  in  the  animal  kingdom,  gene 
ra  and  families  disappear  after  having  fulfilled  their  time, 
or  become  transmuted  and  further  developed  in  others,  called 
more  perfect.  The  so-called  monsters  of  the  antediluvial 
world  were  as  perfect  in  the  condition  of  their  existence, 
as  can  be  the  actual  living  animals,  created  among  differ 
ent  vegetations,  a  different  state  of  the  earth-crust,  different 
combinations  of  air,  gases,  atmosphere,  and  the  thereby 
stimulated  productivity  of  the  soil.  Animals  of  the  last 
creation,  man  included,  would  have  been  unable  to  live 
when  our  planet  was  in  the  Jurassic  or  even  diluvial  con 
dition.  The  animals  of  every  kind  belonging  to  those  by 
gone  epochs,  were  as  perfect  in  their  way  as  the  conditions 
of  life  and  existence  required  and  allowed.  An  animal 
world  disappeared  in  revolutions  of  the  globe,  revolutions 
covering  it  with  new  strata,  and  fostering  new  creations. 


12  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

The  present  animal  kingdom  is  subject  to  the  same  abso 
lute  conditions,  but  modified  or  adapted  to  new  combina 
tions,  appropriate  and  adapted  to  the  so-called  higher  forms 
and  functions. 

And  so  it  is,  in  a  higher  philosophical  appreciation, 
with  races,  nations,  and  even  individual  families.  Their 
work  done,  or  transmitted  to  successors,  they  retire  into 
the  background,  or  even, — above  all  the  so-called  historical 
families — they  die  out.  New  ones  succeed  them  in  the 
ascension  of  an  infinite  spiral.  During  the  periods  of  their 
vital  activity  those  races,  nations  and  individual  families, 
answered  fully  to  given  and  existing  conditions,  and  in  given 
epochs  they  constituted  the  acme  of  general  life.  For 
right  and  for  wrong,  even  dynasties  and  families  embodied, 
influenced  and  directed  human  events  during  long  spaces 
of  time.  Now  the  race  enters  a  new  era.  The  actors  of 
the  past  disappeared  and  disappear  from  the  world's  stage, 
in  accordance  with  the  same  laws  that  ruled  the  disappear 
ance  of  the  animal  creations  of  the  antediluvian  world. 

The  aspirations  for  freedom,  the  struggles  for  social 
equality,  and  even  fo£  "democratic  organization,  were  fami 
liar  to  other  races  as  well  as  the  Indo-European  or  Ger 
mans,  and  fill  the  history  of  the  past  as  they  do  that  of 
the  present.  The  Hebrews  belonging  to  the  Semitic  or 
Aramaic  stock,  represent  the  most  ancient  republican  and 
democratic  society,  with  Jehovah  for  president,  and  judges 
for  administrators.  No  social  privilege  or  distinction  pre 
vailed  among  the  tribes,  excepting  that  one  derived  from 
religious  functions,  as  in  the  tribe  of  Levi.  Nowadays 
the  Hebrews  are  held  up  as  deprived  of  warlike  courage 
and  gallantry ; — but  the  times  of  the  Maccabees  elevate 
them  to  a  level  with  the  most  glorious  military  deeds  of 
any  nation  whatever;  and  the  defence  of  Jerusalem 
against  the  Eomans  remains  unrivalled  on  the  records  of  de- 


KACES,    POPULATION.  13 

votion  and  patriotism.  So  events  give  character  to  men 
and  nations.  Modern  pride  cannot  too  often  be  reminded 
of  the  Hebrew  origin  and  the  humble  condition  of  the 
teacher  of  love  and  humanity,  and  thus  of  its  highest  re 
deemer.  Love  of  liberty,  heroism  and  civilization  do  not 
depend  on  the  phrenological  conformation  of  certain  angular 
depressions  in  the  cerebral  cavity ;  and  the  races  who,  to 
day,  direct  the  events  of  the  world,  shine  in  more  than 
one  respect  in  a  lustre  transmitted  to  them  by  preceding 
ones. 

Greece  and  Athens  will  remain  for  eternity  the  bril 
liant  stars  in  the  history  of  the  mental  and  social  devel 
opment  of  men.  The  Greek  mind  does  not  yield  to  any 
other  in  power,  boldness  and  depth;  in  many  of  its  pro 
ductions  and  conceptions  it  remains  unrivalled ;  and  never 
theless  it  borrowed  many  features  of  civilization  from  the 
East,  and  above  all  it  borrowed  therefrom  that  specula 
tive  philosophy,  wherein  consists  one  of  its  greatest  splen 
dors. 

The  Christian  cardinal  dogma  of  which  many  acknowl 
edge  the  influence  on  the  modern  mental  and  ethical 
civilization ;  an  influence  as  powerful  as  the  exclusively 
moral  precepts  taught  by  Christ  himself;  this  dogma 
derives  its  essence  from  the  conceptions  of  divinity  pre 
vailing  in  the  East  long  centuries  before  Zoroaster's 
doctrine,  which  embodying  the  conceptions  of  a  dis 
tant  epoch,  in  a  purified  form,  marked  the  transition  to 
Christian  theology.  This  last  emerged  and  received  its 
complement  from  the  holy  fathers,  those  disciples  of  the 
New-Platonic,  and  essentially  Eastern  philosophy. 

The  claims  of  the  German  races  to  superiority,  to 
having  originated  out  of  their  individual  and  special  es 
sence  a  new  culture,  a  new  social  idea,  pregnant  with  the 
germs  of  a  higher  social  maturity  and  development,  and 


14  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

foreshadowing  exclusively  the  actual  tendencies,  and  aspi 
rations  of  Europe,  and  the  republican  democratic  organi 
zation  of  this  country — these  claims  contradict  the  eternal 
movement  of  history,  and  are  not  substantiated  by  her 
records. 

The  German  destroyers  of  the  Roman  world  gained 
dominion  principally  over  the  Celts  in  Gaul,  Spain,  and 
Italy.  But  first  of  all,  those  invaders,  establishing  them 
selves  in  the  regions  which  they  had  conquered,  carried 
there  a  new  political  organization  as  a  natural  result  of 
conquest ;  but  in  the  lapse  of  many  centuries,  they  scarce 
ly  produced  any  effect  on  the  prominent  features  of  char 
acter  belonging  to  the  conquered. 

The  Frenchman  of  the  last  ten  centuries,  as  well  as 
of  our  own  days,  is  the  same  as  the  Celto-Gaul,  who,  du 
ring  the  first  centuries  of  the  Roman  republic,  promenaded 
from  the  Seine  to  Asia  Minor,  ravaged  Italy  and  Rome 
under  Brennus,  and  boasted  that  he  was  able  to  sustain 
on  his  spear  the  falling  roof  of  heaven.  Notwithstanding 
the  admixtures  of  various  German  races,  as  the  Franks, 
Goths,  Burgundians,  J^Ormans,  the  Gallo-German-French- 
man,  who  sprang  from  the  combination,  did  not  lose  his 
ancient  bellicose  and  reckless  propensities.  Now,  as  of 
old,  he  plunges  into  a  war  for  the  sake  of  fighting  for  glory 
rather  than  for  positive  results.  In  the  frozen  solitudes 
of  Russia,  as  recently  under  the  walls  of  Sebastopol,  the 
French  have  shown  the  ancient  Gallic  character. 

In  the  same  way,  the  Spaniard  of  our  days,  notwith 
standing  the  Gothic  admixture,  is  the  Celto-Iberian  of  the 
times  of  Carthaginian  and  Roman  domination.  The  same 
terrible,  cold  contempt  for  his  own  life,  as  well  as  that  of 
others,  as  described  By  Pomponius  Trogus,  was  evinced 
in  the  murders  of  the  inquisition  at  home,  and  in  those 
perpetrated  in  the  Netherlands ;  it  echoes  from  national 


RACES,    POPULATION.  15 

habits  in  tragedies  and  songs,  and  the  same  character  was 
finally  delineated  by  Chateaubriand.  Saragossa  recalls  the 
memory  of  Saguntum  and  Nurnantia,  and  the  guerilla- 
warfare  practised  against  Napoleon  reminds  us  of  Sertorius 
and  his  patriotic  struggle  against  the  Romans. 

Nearly  all  the  German  invaders  left  their  footprints 
on  Italy,  some  of  them,  as  the  Longobards  especially,  es 
tablishing  a  domination  for  a  couple  of  centuries.  And  still 
the  Italian  features,  the  Italian  mind,  the  Italian  charac 
ter  in  all  its  variety,  from  the  Alps  to  Tenarus,  has  not 
the  slightest  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Germans.  If, 
in  some  eminent  features,  the  Italians  of  the  Christian 
centuries  differ  from  the  ancient  Romans,  they  neverthe 
less  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  Germans.  The  re 
mains  of  these  various  invaders  became  quietly  absorbed, 
overflowed,  dissolved,  decomposed  by  the  powerful  creative 
exuberance  of  the  Italian  soil.  Circumstances,  various 
events,  variously  acting,  and  a  peculiar  run  of  human  affairs 
for  about  twelve  centuries,  shaped  out  the  characteristics  of 
the  Italians. 

In  their  political  organism  and  internal  struggles,  for 
twelve  centuries  the  Italians  proclaimed  an  insurmount 
able  repulsion  to  centralization,  to  becoming  fused  and  con 
densed  in  one  single  State.  All  the  efforts  of  the  Pa 
pacy  stranded  against  this  innate  repulsion,  as  now-a-days 
the  efforts  of  devoted  patriots  strand  equally  against  it. 
Only  the  iron  grasp  of  ancient  Rome  subdued  this  centri 
fugal  proclivity  of  the  various  Italiots*  tribes  and  munici 
palities.  But  when  once  that  iron  band  was  broken,  Italy 
burst  asunder,  returning  almost  naturally  to  the  former 
state  of  decentralization — and  thus  at  the  distance  of 

*  Italiots  are  called  the  inhabitants  of  ante-Roman ;  Italians  those 
of  post  Roman  times. 


16  AMEEICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

nearly  twenty-five  centuries,  the  social  propensity  of  the 
ancient  Italians  is  vigorously  salient  in  modern  Italy. 

Imagination  has  surrounded  the  advent  of  the  Ger 
man  races  with  an  epic  nimbus,  but  sound  critical  and 
philosophical  appreciation  destroys  the  assumed  poetry, 
and  dispels  the  charm.  This  is  always  the  result  of  the 
cool  application  of  science.  Before  it,  disappear  all  the 
fanciful  images  and  adornments  which  poetry  has  created. 
Thus  science  has  denuded  nature  of  its  mysterious  poetical 
sounds  and  images.  "VYe  now  know  too  well  what  mate 
rial  causes  produce  the  soft  murmur  of  a  brook.  Even 
the  nightingale  in  the  handling  of  science,  is  nothing  more 
than  a  mechanical  instrument,  and  destitute  of  any  ro 
mantic  feeling.  So  in  the  history  of  our  race,  science 
and  sound  sense  destroy  the  phantasmagorical.  Not 
that  true  poetry  should  be  blotted  out  from  our  destinies. 
The  life  of  our  race  is,  was,  and  will  for  ever  remain  the 
most  sublime  epos.  More  truly  so  when  it  embraces  hu 
manity,  than  when  it  is  limited  and  woven  around  the  ac 
cidents  of  one  race,  nation,  and  family. 

The  various  German,  tribes  emerged  to  daylight  from 
the  dark  mist  surrounding  them,  by  virtue  of  the  histori 
cal  law,  which  pushes  onward  on  the  scene,  successive 
races  and  nations.  According  to  widely-spread  assertions, 
the  Germans  were  predestined  spiritually  and  physiologi 
cally,  by  higher  will  and  impulse,  and  by  craniological 
construction,  to  become  the  true  exponents  of  Christianity, 
to  disenthral  the  world.  A  new  culture,  a  new  civiliza 
tion,  social  and  political  freedom,  elevating  the  mass  of 
men  to  a  higher  and  general  level,  or  to  true  democracy : 
these  were  the  gifts  of  which  the  Germans,  to  the  exclusion 
of  all  others,  have  been  the  chosen  bearers  and  agents  from 
the  moment  of  their  first  appearance  on  the  stage.  To 
be  sure,  these  savage  invaders  were  incited  by  the  passion- 


RACES,    POPULATION.  If 

ate  love  of  personal  independence,  breaking  with  impetu 
ous  ferocity  the  bounds  of  civilization  which  they  encoun 
tered.  But  this  fierce  sentiment  of  personal  independence 
is  not  the  germ  or  embryo  of  rational  and  social  liberty ; 
it  is  common  for  the  most  part  to  all  savages ;  it  is  the 
state  which  approaches  nearest  to  the  condition  of  animals. 
The  fiercest  among  them  have  the  strongest  passion  for 
individual  independence.  Contrary  moreover  to  the  as 
sertions  of  phrenological  and  craniological  science,  this 
sentiment  is  not  even  the  result  of  a  higher  animal  con 
formation,  or  a  superior  volume  of  brain,  as  birds  endowed 
with  a  less  volume  of  brain  than  quadrupeds,  have  a 
more  violent  instinct  of  independence.  Fishes,  compara 
tively  brainless,  are  more  indomitable. 

Not  this  savage  sentiment  of  personal  independence 
was  pregnant  with  the  social  and  mental  freedom  to  which 
gravitates  the  human  race,  for  which  it  works  and  toils. 
And  if  this  should  be  the  distinct  mental  specialty  of  the 
German  race,  in  all  its  ramifications  down  to  the  past  or 
to  the  modern  Anglo-Saxons,  raising  them  in  this  manner 
above  other  races  and  nations,  their  colaborers  and  com 
petitors  in  the  social  arena,  this  specialty  would  rather 
class  the  Germans  with  a  lower  mental  degree.  Modern 
science  ascribes  to  the  Celtic  race  the  desire  for  social 
equality.  If  this  is  the  case,  then  in  psychological  appre 
ciation  the  Celtic  race  would  be  the  exponent  of  a  higher 
social  and  mental  endowment.  Equality  is  of  higher 
psychological  origin  than  the  merely  animal  craving  for 
individual  independence.  Animals  have  not  the  feeling 
of  equality,  and  the  weaker  keeps  at  a  respectful  distance 
and  avoids  crossing  the  path  of  the  stronger.  There  is  an 
end  to  individual  independence.  But  a  man  relying  on 
the  equality  of  rights,  raises  his  head  boldly  and  proudly 
in  the  face  of  mere  physical  force  and  superiority.  Events 


18  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

and  history,  show  to  the  utmost,  that  social  liberty  and 
equality  are  fruits  of  association  and  culture ;  that  they 
were  stimulated  and  developed  by  the  run  of  human  af 
fairs — and  began  always  to  ferment  among  those  nations, 
which  possessed  a  comparatively  higher  culture  and  civili 
zation.  History  shows  sufficiently,  that  neither  of  these 
germs  was  brought,  or  exclusively  developed,  by  any  of 
the  branches  of  the  German  race. 

Further,  the  ulterior  fate  of  the  Christian  world,  of  the 
Christian  creed,  was  secured  by  the  northern  invasion. 
But  Christianity  was  already  firmly  rooted  in  humanity, 
otherwise  it  would  not  have  resisted  the  furious  attacks  of 
those  formidable  pagan  invaders.  The  spirit  of  Christi 
anity  as  Well  as  its  dogmas  was  developed  in  its  utmost 
plenitude  and  purity  in  the  first  centuries  of  its  existence, 
and  therefore  by  men  of  the  southern  and  Semitic  races. 
To  them  belong  all  the  holy  fathers,  and  the  north  has  not 
augmented  their  number  by  a  single  name.  Even  Luther 
preached  the  return  to  the  original  principles  of  Christi 
anity,  the  return  to  the  so-called  primitive  church.  The 
primitive  Christians  suffered  martyrdom  for  mental  or  re 
ligious,  as  well  as  for  social  emancipation.  They  suffered 
for  not  recognizing  gods  in  the  Roman  Emperors  before 
whom  the  whole  world  trembled,  at  whose  bidding  men 
with  their  own  hands  shortened  their  lives.  Emperors 
were  even  more  adored  than  gods.  The  poor  Christian 
refusing  to  sacrifice  to  the  Emperor,  shook  the  Imperial 
structure  at  the  basis,  aimed  a  blow  at  the  head  of  society, 
and  thus  committed  a  religious  as  well  as  a  social  revolt ; 
and  so  it  was  considered  by  those  most  interested  in 
the  preservation  of  the  past,  by  the  pagan  Emperors,  and 
by  the  pagan  society.  For  them  the  Christians  were 
religious  and  social  subversionists.  Those  who  publicly 
scorned  this  Imperial  worship,  on  which  reposed  the  social 


19 

structure,  who  by  thousands  and  thousands  were  murdered 
for  this  act  of  revolt,  were  the  first  martyrs  in  the  cause 
of  liberty.  German  races  have  the  smallest  number  of  the 
like  martyrs.  The  tribes  who  overran  the  Roman  Empire, 
received  the  Christian  teaching  from  Celts,  Latins  or 
Greeks ;  and  to  those  who  remained  on  their  primitive  soil, 
Christianity  was  afterwards  brought  and  preached  prin 
cipally  by  Celtic  and  Latin  apostles.  The  German  races 
produced  the  smallest  number  of  such  primitive  mission 
aries.  But  the  German  races,  as  soon  as  they  asserted 
themselves  in  history,  and  began  to  participate  in  a  more 
regulated  way  in  the  movement  of  events,  were  the  first  in 
the  West  who  politically  identified  church  and  state,  thus 
inaugurating  the  greatest  aberration  and  adulteration  of 
Christian  or  Catholic,  and  virtually  spiritual  organization. 
The  German  races,  or  kings,  the  Franks,  the  Carlo  vin- 
gians,  the  Saxons  gave  fixity  to  the  power  of  the  Popes  and 
submitted  to  it.  They  were  its  defenders.  A  German 
emperor,  a  Hohenstauffen,  burnt  the  Italian  Arnold  of 
Brescia,  who,  in  the  12th  century,  contested  the  temporal 
power  of  the  popes.  In  one  word,  without  the  powerful 
aid  of  German  races  and  sovereigns,  papacy  would  not 
have  taken  such  a  firm  hold  of  Europe  at  the  very  begin 
ning  of  the  middle  ages. 

Born  in  rigorous  climates,  crowding  on  each  other  by 
their  rapid  increase,  unacquainted  with  agriculture,  or 
averse  to  it,  and  on  these  accounts  obtaining  with  difficulty 
the  means  of  subsistence,  some  of  these  German  tribes  saw 
before  their  eyes,  others  knew  by  report,  the  abundance 
and  the  luxuries  of  ample,  well  cultivated  regions.  They 
were  at  the  same  time  urged  on  by  extreme  want,  and 
strongly  excited  by  the  presence  of  plunder.  Such  were 
the  reasons  which,  at  the  distance  of  several  centuries  be 
fore,  urged  and  attracted  the  German  hordes  of  the  Cymbri 


20  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

to  Italy  at  the  time  of  Marius,  who,  previous  to  the  Cee- 
sarean  wars,  stimulated  the  Helvetians  to  abandon  their 
Alpine  hollows  and  peaks,  and  to  descend  upon  the  more 
cultivated  Gaul.  The  German  tribes  pressed  on  each 
other,  and  the  nearest  to  the  boundaries  of  civilization 
were  continually  wedged  in  by  the  pressure  of  others.  To 
repulse  this  pressure,  Caesar  was  obliged  to  cross  the  Rhine, 
and  the  Roman  emperors  to  push  further  and  further  into 
the  interior  of  Germany  the  boundaries  of  the  empire. 
Hence  the  mostly  imaginary  wrongs  complained  of  by 
those  savage  tribes.  The  Franks  who  first  invaded  Gaul, 
penetrated  into  Spain  before  the  epoch  of  general  irruption; 
they  were  bands  of  robbers  united  under  a  chief,  leaving 
behind  them  all  the  family  ties ;  attracted,  stimulated  by 
the  thirst  of  gold  and  wine,  and  going  on  a  mission  of 
bloody  massacre  and  fierce  destruction,  as  is  the  case  with 
all  the  beasts  of  prey.  After  this  attempt  of  the  Franks, 
other  savages  for  nearly  three  centuries  invaded  the  em 
pire;  and  gorged  with  plunder,  they  burned,  ravaged, 
murdered,  destroyed,  for  the  sake  of  destruction  and  mas 
sacre.  There  was  no  Jiigher  or  better  impulse  in  their 
breast  than  the  fierce  pleasure  of  playing  amid  the  chances 
of  the  world  and  life  with  power  and  liberty ;  at  the  ut 
most  the  indulgence  in  the  joys  of  activity  without  labor. 
Such  was  the  romance  which  inspired  those  invaders. 
Thus  out  of  murder  and  rapine  emerged  the  present 
Europe.  Out  of  individual  hardships  and  toils,  out  of 
the  sweat  of  the  brow,  expressed  not  in  battling  with 
civilization,  but  in  breaking  the  virgin  soil,  and  enkin 
dling  the  light  of  culture,  out  of  the  labour  of  the  first  set 
tlers  along  the  Alantic  shores,  emerged  America,  the  land 
of  promise,  and  the  revelation  of  higher  and  broader 
destinies. 

The  German  invaders  were  the  bearers  of  the  corrup- 


RACES,   POPULATION.  21 

tion,  the  vices,  the  crimes  inherent  in  savage  races.  Rob 
bery,  murder,  rape,  theft,  were  practised  on  a  large  scale 
in  the  newly  subdued  lands,  just  as  they  were  practised  by 
and  among  them,  in  their  primitive  forests.  When  those 
conquerors  established  themselves  in  a  fixed  position,  they 
began  to  collect  the  legal  customs,  or  common  laws,  as 
they  asserted,  which  prevailed  among  them  of  old,  and 
they  condensed  these  customs  in  written  codes.  Very  nat 
urally  those  codes  re-echo  what  was  observed  by  the  Ger 
man  tribes  in  their  primitive  state,  and  they  give  an  idea 
of  their  morals.  The  laws  of  the  Francks,  the  Goths,  the 
Burgundians,  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  the  other  German 
tribes,  dwell  principally  on  the  above-mentioned  crimes. 
Robbery  and  similar  offences  are  ever  constant  themes  of 
the  capitularies  of  Charlemagne.  Among  the  Germans, 
from  remote  times  murder  was  atoned  by  a  composition 
under  the  name  of  weregild,  and  paid  by  the  murderer  to 
the  relatives  of  the  murdered.  This  of  course  does  not 
give  an  elevated  idea  of  the  feeling  of  individual  honor 
and  dignity  which  could  have  been  satisfied  with  money  or 
its  equivalent.  The  ferocious  vendeta  as  practised  by 
other  races,  is  less  degrading,  more  natural  in  the  men 
of  primitive  state,  and  shows  more  manliness  and  dignity. 
Civilization,  Christianity  have  softened  among  us  the 
feeling  of  revenge.  We  may  forgive — but  even  the  mean 
est  will  not  accept  a  composition  for  the  blood  of  a  parent, 
a  brother,  a  sister  or  a  child. 

This  peculiar  way  of  atonement  used  by  the  barba 
rian  Teutons  previous  to  their  irruption  over  the  world, 
was  not  a  result  of  weakness,  as  it  does  not  prove  their 
humanization.  The  comparative  mildness  with  which 
crimes  were  punished,  is  the  best  proof  of  their  frequency. 
When  in  a  society,  assassinations,  mutilations,  and  other 
similar  attempts  are  very  rare,  they  are  regarded  with 


22  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

horror,  and  the  perpetrators  are  'severely  punished. 
"Where  certain  actions — in  a  society  of  whatever  charac 
ter — are  considered  as  heinous  offences,  the  legislator, 
the  public  opinion,  expressed  in  common  law  or  usage, 
will  reverberate  the  public  conscience.  But  when  crimes 
are  frequently  committed,  they  insensibly  lose  their  enor 
mity  ;  not  only  those  who  commit  them,  but  the  society — 
whatever  it  may  be — becomes  accustomed  to  them,  and 
bears  them  with  indulgence. 

Such  were  the  German  races  when  history  began  to 
throw  light  upon  their  doings,  and  such  they  must  have 
been  for  centuries  before, — in  the  times  of  Tacitus.  His 
enthusiasm  for  them  was  the  counterpart  of  his  manly 
indignation  at  the  effeminacy  of  Rome.  He  embellishes 
them  purposely.  He  contrasted  with  Rome  the  savage 
Germans,  by  whose  bravery  he  was  dazzled,  and  with  whose 
usages  and  domestic  life  he  was  not  and  could  not  have 
been  as  thoroughly  acquainted  as  we  imagine.  Sidonius, 
who  lived  among  them  after  they  had  already  been  for  a 
long  time  under  the  soothing  influence  of  Christianity, 
exclaims  :  "  Happy  £be  eyes  who  do  not  see  them,  happy 
the  ears  who  do  not  hear."  Very  likely  Tacitus  exalted 
the  Germans  for  the  same  reasons  which  incited  Rousseau, 
St.  Pierre  and  others,  to  endow  the  fancied  primitive  man 
Vliomme  de  la  nature,  with  all  moral  perfections.  The 
fierce,  treacherous  and  thieving  Indian,  who  abhors  every 
kind  of  culture  and  civilization,  was  held  up  as  a  model 
of  purity  and  simplicity  not  only  by  sentimentalists,  but 
by  minds  as  positive  and  clear-sighted  as  that  of  Jefferson. 
And  even  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  enthusiastic 
Roman,  the  Germans,  like  the  Indians,  were  more  fond 
of  plunder  than  of  labor,  and  he  likewise  mentions  some 
tribes  that  were  subjected  to  the  most  debasing  despo 
tism. 


KACES,   POPULATION.  23 

The  husband  and  father  among  the  Germans  had  as  abso 
lute  dominion  over  the  wife,  the  daughter,  and  the  son,  as 
he  had  among  the  Romans.  He  had  the  power  of  life  and 
death  over  his  family,  and  could  sell  them.  By  the  common 
law  and  usages  of  England,  the  Anglo-Saxon  right  to  such 
a  traffic  still  exists,  or  has  only  lataly  been  erased.  The 
German  wife  espoused  the  quarrels  of  the  husband,  fought 
at  his  side ;  so  did  the  Gallic,  the  Celto-Iberian  women — 
precisely  as  in  given  circumstances,  the  same  acts  of  devo 
tion  have  been  shown  on  all  parts  of  the  globe.  The  chas 
tity  of  the  German  woman,  and  the  fidelity  of  the  man, 
which  Tacitus  so  highly  extolled,  clash  singularly  with 
the  above-named  tenor  of  the  laws  derived  from  usage ;  and 
at  any  rate  they  must  have  disappeared  very  soon,  and 
gone  the  way  of  all  flesh.  Monogamy  was  not  absolute 
in  the  German  forests.  Caesar  says  that  Arivistus  had 
two  wives,  and  Tacitus  speaks  of  other  Germans  who  had 
them  also.  Beyond  romance  there  exist  no  proofs  in 
the  German  customs  and  manners,  to  justify  the  assumed 
assertion  that  the  position  of  the  woman  was  elevated  by 
them  to  its  natural  purity  and  virtue.  The  Germans 
did  not  surround  woman  with  the  reverence  due  to  her 
purer  devotion.  The  women  of  the  Germans  were  domes 
tic  slaves,  performing  the  hard  field  or  garden  labor,  as 
they  do  still  in  Germany,  and  as  is  still  customary  among 
all  savages,  as  well  as  among  Christian  nations  of  a  lower 
degree  of  civilization.  In  this  respect,  material  progress 
and  labor-saving  inventions  will  alone  fully  emancipate 
woman  and  restore  them  to  softer  functions.  The  Ger 
man  women,  wife,  and  daughters,  had  no  civil  rights,  no 
property.  The  Roman  daughters  had  a  dowry;  their 
rights  in  this  respect  were  under  the  guarantee  and  the 
guardianship  of  the  law.  The  German  husband  could 
punish  publicly  or  privately,  with  the  utmost  severity, 


AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

even  by  death,  the  infidelity  of  the  wife ;  but  among  the 
Germans,  as  among  all  past  and  present  nations,  the  wife 
has  no  rights  and  no  legal  method  to  punish  the  infidelity 
of  the  husband.  Whatever  might  have  been  the  degra 
dation  of  the  woman  in  antiquity ;  the  mother,  the  true 
matron,  was  honored  and  respected.  Xenophon's  Econo 
mics  bears  testimony  that  it  was  so  in  Greece.  The 
matrons  of  the  better  centuries  of  Rome  were  surrounded 
with  respect  and  deference  by  the  usages  and  the  laws ; 
and  these  matrons  are  among  the  loftiest  adornments  of 
Roman  history. 

The  chaste  and  pure  priestesses  of  Ceres  in  Athens 
enjoyed  an  elevated  social  standing :  and  in  the  privileges 
which  surrounded  the  consecrated  Roman  Vestals,  the 
highest  worship  was  paid  to  chastity,  even  by  a  society  in 
which  the  comprehension  of  morals  did  not  extend  to 
sexual  passions.  Among  the  Slavi,  women  were  honored 
in  the  remotest  times,  in  those  of  their  ante-historical  ex 
istence.  Monogamy  prevailed  in  their  usages,  the  women 
stood  in  high  consideration,  and  exercised  great  influence. 
This  fact  is  alluded  tojso  far  back  as  Nicolas  Damascenus, 
a  friend  of  King  Herod. 

The  most  sublime  phenomenon  of  our  civilization,  the 
purification,  ennoblement  and  elevation  of  woman,  is  alto 
gether  the  work  of  Christianity.  Christianity  taught 
man  that  woman  ought  not  to  be  his  slave,  but  his  equal, 
his  companion.  The  atrocious  right  of  life  and  death 
was  destroyed.  Christian  charity  purified  the  manners, 
and  thus  elevated  woman,  whose  dignity  is  incompatible 
with  corruption  and  licentiousness.  Christianity  is  the 
source  whence  this  powerful,  salutary,  and  generous  influ 
ence  emanated.  This  is  the  origin  of  the  dignity  and 
honor  of  woman  in  Europe.  Women  were  the  most  ar 
dent  and  devoted  apostles  of  Christianity  among  the  bar- 


RACES,    POPULATION.  25 

barians.  The  sacred  ties  of  marriage  united  the  barbarian  to 
the  Christian  woman.  Thus  Clotilde  Christianized  the 
fierce  Clodwig  or  Clovis  and  his  Franks ;  Dombrowka 
brought  Christianity  to  the  Poles ;  Olga  and  Helen  to  the 
Russians,  and  the  same  way  of  propagation  prevailed  among 
nearly  all  the  various  Northern  tribes. 

The  Southern  nations  invaded  by  the  Teutons,  were 
already  Christian.  Thus  woman  was  already  purified  and 
honored  among  the  nations  of  Celtic,  Latin  or  Romanic 
descent.  From  them  the  Germans  received  the  initiation 
into  the  purer  and  loftier  appreciation  of  woman  in  domes 
tic  and  in  social  life.  Chivalry  found  woman  for  centu 
ries  purified,  raised,  surrounded  with  veneration.  It  sur 
rounded  the  womanly  charm  with  inspiring  illusions,  with 
passionate,  religious  gallantry  and  devotion.  And  the 
poetical  source  of  the  legends  of  chivalry  lies  not  among 
the  Germans — still  less  among  the  Moors  of  Spain,  whose 
houris  are  the  opposite  of  Christian  virgins  and  unblem 
ished  wives — but  among  Celtic  Briton?.*  The  most  violent, 
ungovernable  and  reckless  passions,  in  their  most  unsocial 
manifestations,  prevailed  among  the  Germans  in  their  for 
ests,  as  well  as  when  by  their  victories  over  other  coun 
tries,  they  found  themselves  in  a  new  situation.  If  they 
were  bearers  of  new  germs,  those  germs  were  of  such  a 
kind  as  to  stifle  society  in  its  cradle ;  and  this  they  did  in 
reality  and  for  centuries.  The  Germans  in  their  forests 
not  only  made  slaves  of  their  prisoners  of  war,  as  did  all 
the  nations  of  antiquity,  but  often  gambled  themselves 
into  slavery.  All  the  vices  and  crimes  that  form  the  spe 
cial  characteristics  of  a  savage  state  of  society,  were  com 
mon  to  the  various  German  tribes,  who  under  various 

*  Arthnr,  Launcelot,  and  the  whole   legend  of  the  Round  Table 
belong  to  Brittany. 

2 


26  AMEEICA   AND    EUROPE. 

names,  one  after  another,  or  at  times  simultaneously,  for 
centuries  poured  into  the  Roman  empire.  Destruction 
was  the  watchword  for  all.  The  differences  of  caste  and 
of  class,  nobles  and  villains,  which  (according  to  the  testi 
mony  of  Caesar  and  Tacitus)  existed  among  them  in  their 
forests,  were  brought  to  the  countries  which  they  subdued. 
The  ancient  nobles,  chieftains  and  princes,  being  for  the 
most  part  the  leaders  of  the  invaders  on  the  battle  field 
as  well  as  in  the  division  of  the  conquered  lands ;  those 
military  distinctions  soon  acquired  even  a  new  and  stronger 
fixity  than  they  had  in  the  original  German  countries.  No 
where,  not  in  a  single  case,  are  to  be  detected  among  these 
tribes,  the  germs  or  notions  of  social  equality.  "  Legiti 
macy  of  royal  races  among  European  nations  is  a  Ger 
manic  idea,"  says  Ilanke ;  and  so  was  that  of  the  mili 
tary  nobility,  which  had  been  partly  already  brought  from 
the  German  forests, 'and  partly  sprouted  out  from  the  new 
social  conditions,  into  which  the  conquest  over  men.  soil, 
cities  and  vast  uncultivated  lands,  had  put  the  conquerors. 
The  Goths  overran  the  greatest  part  of  the  Roman 
empire.  They  broke  ia,  East  and  West,  and  finally  took 
possession  of  some  of  the  most  beautiful  portions,  as  Ita 
ly,  the  South  of  France,  and  Spain.  It  is  believed  that 
their  domination  extended  previously  from  Scandinavia  to 
the  Danube,  at  least  under  Hermanric,  one  of  their  great 
est  leaders.  Others  pretend  that  the  Goths  are  not  of  a 
German  stock,  but  are  the  direct  descendants  of  the  an 
cient  classical  Getse.  This  doubt  is  based  on  the  histori 
cal  fact,  that  the  Goths  alone  among  the  German  races, 
did  not  compound  for  murder  by  a  fine  or  weregild.  At 
any  rate  they  are  now  counted  among  Germans,  who  re 
ceived  from  them  a  written  language,  in  the  translation  of 
the  Scriptures,  by  Ulfila,  a  Gothic  bishop.  They  received 
architecture,  moreover,  and  many  rudiments  of  refine- 


BACES,   POPULATION.  27 

ment,  which  the  Goths  themselves  learned  from  the  Ro- 
manic  nations  which  they  subdued.  The  Goths  entered 
the  civilized  regions  under  the  leadership  of  their  royal 
races,  of  the  Amali  and  the  Bald,  and  both,  according  to 
their  national  creed,  of  superior  half  godlike  origin.  The 
Gothic  nation  was  divided  by  various  social  privileges ; 
they  had  the  Capelleti,  or  long-haired,  and  the  Pilefori, 
distinguished  by  wearing  caps  in  the  presence  of  the  King 
and  at  the  divine  sacrifices.  To  wear  long  hair  was  a 
kingly  and  nobiliar  distinction  among  other  German  tribes. 
The  Pilefori  formed  a  supreme  theo-aristocratical  class, 
and  had  the  power  to  elect  a  king  or  a  reigning  dynasty. 
When  the  Goths  became  Christians  of  the  Arian  creed,  the 
privileged  class  of  the  Pilefori  perpetuated  itself,  absorb 
ing  in  its  members  the  dignity  of  bishops.  The  same  was 
the  case  when  they  subsequently  melted  into  Romanism 
under  the  reign  of  King  Recarede.  This  is  the  origin  of 
the  great  power  and  influence  of  the  Westgothic  Bish 
ops,  as  shown  in  Toulouse,  and  above  all  in  Spain  during 
the  Westgothic  rule.  The  celebrated  councils  of  Toledo, 
held  by  Gothic  bishops,  legislated  for  the  kingdoms ;  by 
the  decree  of  bishops,  King  Vamba  was  dethroned. 
Montesquieu  as  well  as  Guizot,  was  puzzled  to  find  the 
origin  and  the  cause  of  this  power  exercised  by  the 
Gothic  or  Spanish  bishops ;  as  no  other  Roman  Catholic 
nation  at  that  time  submitted  to  the  power  of  the  clergy 
to  that  extent.  -  The  source  of  the  power  was  in  the  an 
cient  caste  of  the  Gothic  Pilefori  ;  as  therefrom  likewise 
comes  the  right  of  the  Spanish  Grandees  to  remain  with 
their  heads  covered  in  the  presence  of  their  sovereign. 

Social  gradations  and  nobiliar  privileges,  partly  as 
the  perpetuation  of  their  primitive  social  state,  partly 
deriving  their  strength  from  the  nature  of  such  a  military 
establishment,  as  was  in  its  origin  and  beginning  the  Ger- 


28  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

man  conquest ;  these  were  implanted  and  extended  over 
Western  Europe  by  the  Germans.  Therein  was  the  origin 
of  feudality, — an  organization  natural  to  all  nations  con 
quering  and  extending  under  the  leadership  of  chiefs  and 
dynasties.  Thus  at  the  dawn  of  history,  when  the  Iranic 
or  Arrian  races  made  an  irruption  over  the  ancient  world, 
encompassed  in  the  then  known  circle  embracing  Asia 
from  the  Indus  to  the  Mediterranean,  a  part  of  Greece,  and 
Egypt ;  this  immense  Empire  was  for  several  centuries  of 
its  existence  propped  up  on  feudal  dynasts  or  magnates. 
Out  of  those  feudal  dynasts  were  the  Median,  Bactrian, 
Afghan  princes,  Nebuchadnezzar  of  Babylon,  and  Cyrus 
himself.  Darius  Hystaspes  put  an  end  to  this  ancient 
Eastern  feudal  regime,  which  was  reproduced  after  long 
centuries  in  the  West,  and  evoked  by  similar  causes,  by 
the  current  of  affairs  and  events,  similar  to  each  other,  at 
least,  in  their  general  outlines.  None  of  the  above  charac 
teristics  of  the  German  conquerors  could  in  any  way  have 
been  pregnant  exclusively  with  democratic  germs. 

Old  Cato  spoke  of  Greece  as  "  mendax  in  historia." 
Niebuhr,  Arnold,  and^Tnany  modern  writers  on  Roman 
history,  show  to  what  an  extent  it  is  necessary  to  be  dis 
trustful  of  Roman  historians  and  annalists.  Grote,  who, 
of  all  historians,  has  rendered  the  most  eminent  services  to 
the  comprehension  of  the  beneficial  workings  of  the  dem 
ocratic  principle ;  Grote  has  shown  how  prejudiced,  par 
tial,  and  unjust  in  several  respects  to  their  country,  to 
their  eminent  men  have  been  the  Greek  writers,  full  often 
from  a  heinous  spirit  of  party.  All  these  short-comings 
are  fully  reproduced  by  German  writers.  Notwithstand 
ing  their  unequalled  erudition,  as  soon  as  in  any  way 
it  concerns  Germanism,  the  spirit  of  historical  justice 
vanishes ;  their  judgment  is  overclouded.  History,  facts, 
and  events  are  twisted  and  forcibly  wedged  into  a  precon- 


RACES,    POPULATION.  29 

certed  scheme.  By  such  a  process,  the  invading  German 
races  were  surrounded  by  a  poetical  halo,  and  endowed 
with  all  the  highest  social  characteristics.  What  events, 
circumstances,  affections,  passions,  relations,  contact  with 
other  nations,  and  with  their  different  modes  of  life 
brought  forth, — what  the  Germans  received  or  learned 
from  others, — all  this  was  absorbed  in  behalf  of  the  Ger 
man  race  in  comparison  with  all  others.  And  thus  modern 
civilization,  with  all  its  social  and  mental  manifestations 
and  variations,  was  to  be  exclusively  the  work  of  the 
German  world. 

The  influence  of  human  affairs  on  social  development, 
— as  well  as  the  fallacy  of  distributing  the  highest  human 
attributes  according  to  races,  or  to  physiological,  and  crani- 
ological  conformations,  is  most  strikingly  elucidated  by 
throwing  a  rapid  glance  on  the  Slavic  neighbors  of  the 
Germans,  and  from  whom  the  latter  at  the  commencement 
of  their  historical  existence,  learned  several  rudiments  of 
cultivation,  and  among  them  the  plan  of  communal  organ 
ization. 

It  can  be  said,  that  from  the  remotest  times,  the  tribes 
known  in  history  under  the  name  of  the  Slavic  race,  occu 
pied  the  same  portions  of  continental  Europe  in  which 
they  now  dwell.  They  were  undoubtedly  the  first  agri 
culturists  in  the  North,  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Volga. 
Although  savages  and  barbarians  similar  to  the  primitive 
Germans  or  Celts,  the  Slavi  early  attached  themselves  to 
the  soil ;  no  traces  of  nomadic  or  roaming  life  are  to  be 
detected  among  them.  The  dawn  of  history  finds  them 
living  in  villages  as  agriculturists,  under  simple  com 
munal  institutions,  with  elective  chiefs,  and  judges,  or 
administrators.  A  special  fact  elucidates  their  social 
usages ;  in  those  remote  times  the  Slavi  alone  among  all 
nations  recorded  in  history — the  Chinese  excepted — never 


30  AMERICA   AND   EUKOPE. 

transformed  their  prisoners  into  slaves,  but  after  one 
year's  detention  allowed  them  to  return  to  their  own  coun 
try.  The  enslaving  of  conquered  enemies  began  among 
the  whole  race  only  in  Russia,  and  this  very  likely  with 
the  establishment  of  the  Romans  or  Yariagues.  Subse 
quently,  certain  human  events,  which  it  is  not  necessary 
to  enumerate  here,  created  slavery  and  serfdom,  nobility 
and  princes  among  the  various  Slavic  tribes, — and  German 
example,  German  influence,  can  be  counted  among  the 
foremost.  And  now,  serfdom  on  an  enormous  scale  still 
exists  among  the  Slavi ;  serfdom  strengthened  by  circum 
stances  and  by  events,  it  crushes  down  a  branch  of  the 
human  family ;  the  only  one  which,  in  the  cradle,  was 
free  from  this  social  curse. 

In  the  course  of  centuries,  by  wars,  conquests,  and 
German  migrations,  the  Slavi  became  involved,  mixed 
with  the  neighboring  Germans,  and  Slavic  sprouts  ex 
tended  in  different  directions  into  Germany.  Thus  in 
various  ways  they  taught  the  Germans  agriculture  and 
horticulture,  previous  to  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  the  German  forests^,*  They  introduced  into  Germany 
the  culture  of  rye,  which  was  unknown  before  to  such 
an  extent  to  the  Germans,  that  Charlemagne  in  one  of  his 
capitularies  especially  enjoins  its  culture  upon  his  Ger 
man  subjects.  The  Slavic  tribes  extending  along  the  Bal 
tic  shores  were  daring  navigators.  According  to  the  Chron 
icler  Saxo  Grammaticus,  and  the  historian  Sismondi,  they 
united  in  the  predatory  excursions  into  Britain  and  Gaul 
with  the  Angles  and  Saxons,  and  with  the  Danes.  And  when 
the  communal  and  municipal  organization,  suppressed  by 
the  German  rule,  began  again  to  give  signs  of  life  in  the 
south  of  Europe  in  the  eleventh  century,  according  to  the 
authoritative  testimony  of  the  erudite  and  truthful  Mura- 
tori,  it  was  in  the  Slavi  city  of  Ragusa  among  the  Slavic 


RACES,    POPULATION.  31 

Dalmatians  that  took  place  the  first  municipal  elections, 
as  recorded  by  history.  Circumstances,  to  a  great  extent, 
destroyed  the  communal  and  municipal  as  well  as  the  other 
liberties  among  the  Slavi,  as  circumstances  evoked  them 
from  smouldering  ashes,  gave  them  life,  virtuality,  and 
force  among  the  other  contemporary  nations. 

Where  the  Germans  permanently  established  their 
dominion,  they  also  in  various  ways  established  servitude, 
serfdom,  and  slavery  among  the  conquered,  including  the 
burghers,  the  rural  populations,  the  artisans  and  the 
laborers.  They  themselves  despised  every  kind  of  peace 
ful  occupation.  Neither  industry  nor  agriculture  had  any 
attraction  for  them.  All  this  was  abandoned  to  the  indi 
gent  In  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and  Britain,  the  conquerors, 
spreading  over  the  lands,  settled  not  in  cities,  but  outside 
of  the  walls,  erecting  strongholds  and  castles,  or  burghs. 
They  divided  the  whole  land  into  cities  and  populations 
according  to  certain  tenures,  which,  in  their  various  appli 
cations,  constituted  the  feudal  system.  The  cities,  the 
trades  paid  revenues  to  the  new  lords,  the  lands  were 
tilled  by  aborigines,  of  C  el  to-Romanic  descent.  In  the 
course  of  time,  the  descendants  of  the  common  soldiery 
among  the  conquerors,  whose  services  were  rewarded  with 
the  smaller  lots  or  freeholds,  became  impoverished  ;  then 
willingly  or  by  force  they  were  turned  by  the  mightier 
knights  and  barons  into  rustics,  and  became  subject  to 
predial  servitude  equally  with  the  natives.  Others  among 
them  retired  to  cities,  and  increased  there  the  number  of 
laborers  and  workingmen,  still  remaining  dependent  on 
the  lords.  But  this  kind  of  influx  into  the  cities  could 
not  influence  or  modify  the  character  of  the  natives,  who 
were  far  more  numerous.  The  question  therefore  of  the 
rekindling  of  culture  after  the  terrible  night  which  contin 
ued  through  centuries  of  invasion,  the  question  of  the  first 


o^  AMEBICA    AND    EUKOPE. 

efforts  for  disenthralment  and  emancipation  from  the  ty 
ranny  exercised  by  the  feudal  nobility,  those  questions  are 
still  pending  between  the  Celto-Romanic  and  the  Germans. 
In  Germany  proper,  serfdom,  oppression,  and  slavery  were 
established,  not  by  conquerors  over  the  conquered  of  dif 
ferent  origin,  but  over  a  people  of  the  same  blood.  This 
was  principally  done  after  the  example  of  what  was  pre 
viously  consummated  on  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Empire. 
Germany  proper  was  the  last  in  turn  to  receive  feudalism  ; 
she  was  last  in  turn  in  the  effort  for  disenthralmeut,  last 
in  turn  in  enkindling  civilization.  For  every  thing,  Ger 
many,  for  centuries,  went  to  school  to  Italy  and  France. 

Throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  ruins  of  the  Ro 
man  Empire,  the  half  burnt  and  desolated  cities  were  peo 
pled  by  the  remains  of  the  ancient  inhabitants.  After  the 
frightful  confusion  of  centuries  began  to  subside,  the  cities 
little  by  little  began  to  recover ;  industry  gave  feeble  signs 
of  vitality ;  and  for  its  products  as  well  as  for  money  the 
inhabitants  were  enabled  to  buy  from  their  masters,  if  not 
a  recognition  of  rights,  at  least  some  small  temporary 
liberalities  or  concession^  In  the  cities  and  among  the 
natives  were  preserved  the  feeble  traditions  of  previous 
municipal  rights,  the  almost  expiring  sparks  of  once  flour 
ishing  cultivation.  What  Savigny  has  proved  and  firmly 
established  concerning  the  Roman  law,  can  with  safety  be 
applied  to  the  preservation  and  continuation  of  the  over 
thrown  civilization.  If  the  Roman  law  was  never  wholly 
suppressed,  nor  ever  disappeared  from  use  in  the  darkest  and 
most  confused  times ;  in  the  same  way  there  was  nowhere 
a  total  suppression  and  extinction  of  ancient  civilization. 
This  feeble  spark  was  preserved  of  course,  and  not  by  the 
brute,  unlettered,  savage  conquerors,  but  by  the  natives. 
The  clergy,  moreover,  a  powerful  and  softening  agency, 
formed  a  connecting  link  between  the  old  and  new  ele- 


RACES,   POPULATION.  33 

ments  of  society,  and  the  clergy  belonged  principally  to 
the  Celto-Romanic  race. 

During  the  early  part  of  the  mediaeval  epoch  the 
darkness  was  the  thickest,  the  confusion  the  greatest ; 
right  and  light  were  downtrodden,  suppressed ;  arbitrari 
ness  and  recklessness  were  the  general  rule.  The  Ger 
man  races  alone  were  the  exponents  of  the  state  of  society 
as  well  as  its  exclusive  leaders.  Only  the  clerical  robe 
enjoyed  some  immunity  and  respect,  and  was  sheltered 
from  outrages.  But  even  this  was  often  a  feeble,  insuf 
ficient  shield.  It  was,  however,  natural,  that,  feeble  as 
this  protection  was,  individuals  among  the  oppressed  na 
tives  should  seek  quiet  and  refuge  tinder  it.  Thus  the 
monasteries  became  the  exclusive  asylum  of  such  remains 
of  the  ancient  mental  and  material  culture  as  could  be  pre 
served  from  total  extinction.  In  the  monasteries,  there 
fore,  not  only  letters  were  preserved,  but  the  rudiments,  or 
rather  the  remains  of  arts  and  industry ;  and  even  the 
culture  of  the  soil.  The  arts  of  healing,  of  architecture, 
with  all  their  belongings,  were  then  almost  the  exclusive* 
possession  of  the  clergy  and  the  monks.  Those  belonged 
every  where  to  the  conquered  Celto-Romanic  race. 

Feudality  soon  invaded  the  Church ;  the  abbeys  became 
rich  in  aristocratical  feoffs  and  investitures ;  the  conquer 
ors  began  to  enter  the  orders,  and  the  abbots  were  se 
lected  from  among  the  privileged,  noble  German  class. 
The  chronicles  of  most  of  the  monasteries  mention  violent 
and  often  deadly  strifes  between  the  monks  and  the  ab 
bots;  strifes  originating  generally  in  the  difference  of 
blood  and  descent. 

Through  such  a  state  of  things — through  such  a  bloody 
mire — was  society  dragged  for  centuries  by  the  Germans. 
Traffic  and  commercial  intercourse,  that  elastic,  indestruc 
tible  agency  of  humanization ;  that  stimulus  to  industry, 


34  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

and  the  consequent  to  peaceful  and  orderly  occupation  and 
activity  of  intellect  and  of  mind,  was  preserved,  and  car 
ried  on  by  the  natives  alone.  Orderly  activity,  that 
all-embracing  hearth  of  civilization,  manifested  itself  ex 
clusively  at  first  among  the  Celto-Romanic  inhabitants  of 
cities,  where  the  German  element  either  did  not  exist  at 
all,  or  was  mixed  in  a  comparatively  imperceptible  pro 
portion.  The  German,  still  clad  in  steel,  was  familiar  only 
with  the  use  of  the  sword  and  of  the  battle-axe  : — even  the 
poorest  one  among  them,  who  tilled  his  own  freeholds, 
considered  mental,  industrial,  and  commercial  pursuits,  as 
unmanly  and  mean. 

During  this  whole  terrible  and  protracted  epoch,  the 
Eastern  or  Greek  Empire  was  the  seat  where  culture,  arts, 
industry,  trade,  studies,  refinement  existed,  and  compara 
tively  flourished ;  parts  of  Italy  recognized  the  supremacy  of 
Byzantium,  and  maintained  an  uninterrupted  intercourse 
with  the  then  capital  of  the  civilized  world.  This  inter 
course  contributed  to  a  great  extent  to  preserve  in  Italy 
the  smouldering  sparks  of  culture.  By  the  combination 
of  those  various  tutelary  and  nursing  agencies,  these  sparks 
were  kindled,  light  began  to  dawn,  to  spread,  to  radiate. 
Slowly  strengthening  and  increasing  these  remains  of  an 
cient  culture,  in  Italy,  in  Spain,  in  the  south  of  France,  on 
the  Loire  and  Seine,  along  the  Rhine,  every  where  among 
the  cities  it  successively  embraced,  warmed  the  Celto  or 
Gallo-German  regions  of  the  North,  and  was  forwarded  to 
Germany  itself.  Generally  the  German  rulers,  especially 
after  Charlemagne,  as  soon  as  they  began  to  comprehend 
the  benefits  of  culture,  erected  cities  which  served  either 
as  so  many  asylums  for  the  natives,  or  as  centres  for  the 
slowly-reviving  industry  and  commerce.  In  this  slow- 
paced  march  towards  the  North,  one  country  and  city 
transmitted  culture,  vitalized  the  other. 


RACES,    POPULATION.  35 

As  soon  as  prosperity  began  to  give  vitality  and 
strength  to  the  cities,  the  spirit  of  independence  began  to 
revive,  and  the  cities  began  to  strive  against  the  tyranny 
and  oppression  exercised  by  the  surrounding  lords  and 
barons.  The  first  raising  of  cities  was  made  in  Italy,  and 
in  Italy  the  municipal  and  communal  institutions  then  be 
gan  to  be  recalled  into  life.  The  Italian  cities  began  to 
be  emancipated  before  the  time  of  the  crusades,  at  which 
time  they  already  formed  independent  corporations  and 
municipalities,  some  quickly  transforming  themselves  even 
into  powerful  sovereign  States.  Venice  alone  survived 
the  terrible  conflagration  caused  for  centuries  by  the  ir 
ruption  of  the  barbarians,  alone  preserved  independence 
and  liberty.  Venice,  the  asylum  for  the  martyred  and 
conquered  race,  Venice,  which  never  recognized  the  con 
querors  as  masters,  might  have  been  a  powerful  stimu 
lant  for  the  other  Italian  cities  to  imitate  her  example. 
In  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries,  the  cities  of  Lom- 
bardy,  of  Liguria,  of  Tuscany,  began  successively  to 
break  the  yoke  of  the  feudal  barons.  Uniting  sometimes 
with  the  rural  populations,  they  attacked  the  frowning 
nests  and  abodes  of  the  nobles,  by  which  they  were  sur 
rounded,  took  or  destroyed  them,  and  forced  the  nobles 
to  settle  within  the  walls  of  the  cities,  to  submit  to  com 
mon  rule.  Thus  the  nobles  or  descendants  of  the  Ger 
mans  came  within  the  action  of  civilization,  and  began 
to  be  warmed  by  it.  Moved  by  similar  reasons,  the 
French  and  Walloon  cities  afterwards  took  the  same 
course,  and  the  last  in  this  work  of  disenthralment  were 
the  cities  in  Germany.  Thus  the  first  move  for  disen 
thralment  was  made  in  Celto-Ronianic  lands,  the  first  fee 
ble  cry  for  social  liberty  was  uttered  by  Celto-Romanic 
voices. 

This  struggle  of  cities  or  of  the  middle  classes,  first 


^O  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

against  nobility  and  then  against  royalty,  extended  to  our 
own  time.  It  had  various  manifestations  and  forms — at 
times  violent,  then  under  some  cover  of  legality.  Thus  it 
was  sometimes  carried  for  the  preservation  of  certain  privi 
leges  ;  finally  it  was  carried  by  legists,  and  was  called 
then  a  parliamentary  one.  It  played  an  eminent  part  in 
the  history  of  liberty,  and  for  centuries  its  principal  lead 
ers  on  the  continent  were  France  and  Flanders.  During 
its  continuation,  the  influence  of  cities  or  of  the  bour 
geoisie  steadily  increased,  until  it  became  almost  omnipo 
tent  in  the  great  French  revolution  of  1789,  as  the  mass 
of  the  people  had  their  turn  in  1792-93.  Although,  in 
the  course  of  time,  the  combination  of  various  events  and 
affairs  gave  moral  and  material  fuel  to  the  contest,  it  can, 
nevertheless,  be  considered  as  an  uninterrupted  effort  of 
the  descendants  of  Celto-Romanic  stock,  against  the  de 
scendants  of  German  conquerors.  The  burghers,  as  a 
class  or  as  individuals,  were  continually  recruited  in 
France,  as  every  where  else,  from  among  the  rural  popu 
lation  ;  and  thus  was  sustained  uninterrupted  and  almost 
unadulterated  the  primitive  distinction  of  blood  between 
the  privileged  oppressor  and  the  oppressed. 

Hand  in  hand  with  the  attempts  at  liberation  from  the 
petty  tyrants,  with  the  revival  of  industry  and  of  com 
merce,  hand  in  hand  and  in  the  same  regions  began  the 
dim  revival  of  mental  culture.  The  cities  and  their  in 
habitants,  the  burghers,  were  its  agents,  its  disciples. 
This  revival  at  first  took  place  in  Italy  and  in  France. 
Aside  from  the  clergy  and  the  monks,  the  middle  classes 
alone,  rarely  the  peasantry,  furnished  scholars,  teachers 
and  disciples.  From  them  were  the  professors  of  various 
sciences,  the  philosophers,  the  theologians,  the  jurists  and 
lawyers,  and  the  physicians.  All  these  pursuits  and  pro 
fessions  were  despised  for  centuries  by  the  conquerors, 


BACES,    POPULATION.  37 

those  ancestors  of  the  nobility.  Originally  the  clergy 
served  them  as  amanuenses,  and  thence  is  derived  the  ap 
pellation  of  a  clerk  for  inferior  officials,  doing  the  harder 
mental  and  written  work.  For  ages  following  the  con 
quest,  the  nobility  throughout  all  Europe  showed  the 
same  aversion  to  mental  pursuits.  Those  who  did  other 
wise  were  exceptions.  It  is  on  account  of  this  ignorance 
of  the  nobles,  for  centuries  the  rulers  and  administrators 
of  society,  that  the  jurists  and  lawyers,  who  all  belonged 
to  the  middle  classes,  acquired  thus  early  a  prepondera 
ting  influence  in  the  administration  of  the  affairs  of  state 
and  of  justice.  In  France  the  nobles  formed  the  judicial 
courts.  There  they  judged  and  decided  about  various 
matters  between  themselves  and  the  natives.  Charle 
magne  principally  organized  such  courts  of  the  Reichem- 
bourgi.  The  same  custom  prevailed  among  the  Lougo- 
bards  in  Italy,  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  conquerors  of  Brit- 
tain.  But  the  ignorant  nobles  were  obliged  to  have  their 
amanuenses  at  their  side.  Originally  those  clerks  were 
seated  in  courts  each  at  the  feet  of  their  master.  By  slow 
degrees  their  significance  and  influence  increased ;  the  no 
bles  were  glad  to  throw  on  them  the  burden  of  affairs ; 
the  clerks  became  permanent  judges.  Thus  originated 
the  gentlemen  of  the  long  robe,  and  in  France  the  cele 
brated  provincial  court  of  parliament.  Early  in  the  sec 
ond  part  of  the  middle  ages  France  stood  at  the  side  of 
Italy,  and  was  foremost  in  the  orbit  of  civilization,  as  it 
then  existed.  Not  the  French,  not  the  Spanish  or  Ital 
ian  nobility,  nor  the  German,  was  instrumental  in  this  slow 
and  difficult  dispersion  of  darkness  and  of  ignorance. 
Every  where  the  nobility  kept  aloof  from  the  burgher 
class.  For  long  centuries  intermarriage  with  burghers 
was  considered  dishonorable,  was  considered  as  contami 
nation  of  the  purity  of  blood.  In  Spain  until  the  time 


38  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

of  King  Riceswindus,  any  intermarriage  of  a  Goth  with  a 
native  was  punished  with  death ;  this  prejudice  was  per 
petuated  there  as  by  all  the  nobles  of  Europe,  and  trans 
formed  into  a  horror  of  mixing  with  burgher  or  ignoble 
blood.  Thus  when  the  most  difficult,  because  the  first 
steps  in  the  road  of  culture  were  made,  the  nobility  no 
where  participated  in  them  either  as  a  class,  or  through 
the  mixture  of  blood  ;  and  the  palin  for  having  nursed  the 
feeble  sparks  of  culture  throughout  Western  and  South 
ern  Europe,  belongs  wholly  to  the  lower  or  not  noble 
classes,  that  is,  to  the  descendants  of  Celto-Romans.  Un 
doubtedly  intermarriages  between  conqueror  and  conquered 
were  contracted,  and  this  might  have  been  the  case  even 
to  a  large  extent  in  Italy  and  France  as  well  as  in  Britain. 
But  according  to  the  usual  process  where  social  distinc 
tions  prevail,  it  was  the  man  from  the  superior  position 
who  married  a  woman  from  the  inferior  one,  and  very  sel 
dom  the  reverse  took  place.  The  children  of  such  mar 
riages  followed  the  condition  of  the  father,  enjoyed  all  his 
privileges  and  shared  all  his  prejudices.  In  Italy,  when 
the  cities  forced  the  nobles  to  live  within  the  walls,  they 
thus  brought  them  within  the  focus  of  civilization,  and 
bestowed  upon  them  the  possibility  of  warming  themselves 
at  its  vivifying  fire.  The  nobleman  could  receive  tuition 
in  schools,  could  follow  the  labor  of  professors,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Italian  nobles  were  the  first  in  Europe 
who  became  polished  and  distinguished  by  superior  men 
tal  accomplishments.  But  every  where  else  the  nobility 
lived  as  it  does  now  in  castles  and  burghs,  and  for  a  pro 
tracted  period,  for  centuries,  nourished  the  old  prejudices 
of  their  ancestry,  the  conquerors,  against  light  and  cul 
ture.  Not  with  them  were  filled  the  halls  of  professors 
and  of  universities  when  those  were  created.  Not  nobles 
were  professors,  nor  to  any  considerable  extent  were  they 


RACES,    POPULATION.  39 

pupils  in  the  first  period  after  the  establishment  of  the 
University  of  Paris,  that  Alma  Mater  of  all  the  universi 
ties  north  of  the  Alps.  This  was  entirely  filled,  used  and 
profited  by  burghers,  those  direct  descendants  of  the  con 
quered  natives. 

The  Germans  in  Germany  received  the  initiation  from 
Italy  and  France.  Coming  last  in  turn,  they  afterwards 
penetrated  into  some  parts  of  the  domain  of  mind  and  of 
knowledge  to  a  greater  depth  than  their  previous  masters. 
But  it  was  not  the  Germans  that  enkindled  the  culture  of 
Christian  or  modern  Europe,  nor  the  Germans  that  were 
the  first  to  strike  for  freedom  and  break  down  tyranny. 
Therefore  not  from  the  Germans  exclusively  did  the  post- 
Komau  or  Christian  world  receive  its  higher  and  purer 
character. 

Circumstances  and  events  aroused  the  Celto-Romanic 
nation  to  action  far  previous  to  the  Germans,  either 
Franks,  Saxons,  Anglo-Saxons,  or  any  other  branch  of  the 
great  stock. 

Events  alone  transformed  the  Germans  as  conquerors 
into  oppressors,  and  the  conquered  into  oppressed.  Thus 
what  in  history  is  called  the  darkest  epoch  of  the  middle 
ages,  was  exclusively  the  work  of  the  German  race.  It 
extended  an  iron  net  over  the  whole  Christian  Western 
world.  The  knights  and  nobles  were  independent  of  any 
superior  overmastering  power,  they  lawlessly  carried  out 
their  arbitrary  will.  Italy,  Germany,  above  all,  France, 
were  transformed  into  nearly  as  many  independent  suze 
rainties  as  there  were  nobiliar  families,  strongholds  and 
castles.  The  sovereigns  were  impotent  and  poor,  nearly 
deprived  of  power,  without  revenues,  and  leaning  willingly 
on  the  cities,  who  proffered  them  money  and  means  to  curb 
the  reckless  feudality.  The  movement  for  emancipation 
on  the  continent  of  Europe  was  however  not  at  all  demo- 


40  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

cratic  in  its  nature.  The  paramount  question  then  was,  to 
secure  the  nearest  available  good,  and  to  get  a  respite  from 
the  immediate  oppressor.  The  royal  power  was  a  more  sure 
support  than  could  possibly  be  obtained  from  the  people  at 
large,  the  rural  masses,  enslaved  by  the  nobles.  The 
primitive  movement  for  emancipation  in  Europe,  England 
included,  had  nowhere  the  broad  democratic  character  of 
securing  rights  to  all ;  this  era  was  inaugurated  by  the 
American  revolution.  The  European  cities  tried  to  ob 
tain  and  secure  privileges.  These  privileges  in  themselves 
were  deductions  from  eternal  principles,  but  at  that  time 
the  principles  were  only  dimly  comprehended  and  by  a  few 
persons,  and  not  positively  asserted.  The  question  was 
to  obtain  security  and  guarantees,  and  any  one  was  wel 
come  who  could  procure  and  defend  them.  In  this  man 
ner  originated  on  the  continent  a  kind  of  understanding 
between  royalty  and  the  cities,  and  the  burgher  classes 
were  thorough  monarchists.  The  legists  who  issued  from 
the  middle  classes,  finding  in  the  Roman  law  a  forest  of 
axioms  in  favor  of  the  absolute  will  of  the  sovereign,  be 
came  its  violent  and  decided  partisans.  Stimulated  by  ha 
tred  of  the  nobility,  from  the  middle  classes  issued  the 
boldest  supporters  of  absolute  authority.  These,  and  the 
like  events,  were  arbitrarily  construed  in  proof  of  the 
love  of  absolute  power  by  the  Romanic  nations.  But  no 
where  for  centuries  did  the  German  races  show  any  decid 
ed  or  exclusive  tendency,  or  move  in  a  democratic  direc 
tion  ;  nowhere  is  to  be  detected  among  them  a  recognition 
of  the  pure  democratic  principle.  Events  subsequently 
disengaged  and  extricated  the  principle  from  the  meshes 
wherein  it  was  entangled ;  events  to  whose  development 
contributed  proportionally  the  Germans,  as  well  as  the 
Celtic,  Gallic  and  Romanic  descendants. 

When  ideas  find  their  way  into  the  world  and  become 


KACES,    POPULATION.  41 

facts,  they  are  modified  by  external  circumstances,  by  spe 
cial  relations  corresponding  to  the  mental  and  political 
state  of  society.  Their  availability  and  the  ease  of  their 
extension  depend  upon  the  state  of  society,  upon  the  de 
mands,  the  aspirations,  and  the  readiness  to  accept  the  new 
comer.  For  this  reason  ideas,  longings  and  needs,  more 
or  less  generally  felt,  were  often  suddenly  seized,  at  the 
most  propitious  time,  appropriated  and  embodied  by  a  spe 
cial  nation  rather  than  a  race,  which  was  in  a  more  favora 
ble  condition  for  the  new  task  or  mission. 

In  the  course  of  ages  Romanism  became  all-powerful, 
oppressive,  endangering  the  destinies,  the  mental  and  politi 
cal  progress  of  the  European,  or  Christian  Western  world. 
Society  in  its  mental  life  as  well  as  in  its  political  govern 
ment  and  civil  relations,  was  to  be  detached  forcibly  from 
the  Vatican  for  the  sake  of  preservation.  In  various  ways 
Europe  longed  for  emancipation,  for  freedom  of  worship 
or  of  conscience,  for  separation  of  church  and  state,  or  for 
giving  to  every  church  a  national  organization  independent 
of  Rome.  Previous  to  the  16th  century,  the  papal  tem 
poral  power  had  as  many  friends  as  violent  enemies  in  It 
aly.  Arnold  of  Brescia,  mentioned  before,  was  one  of 
the  martyrs  of  this  idea.  The  small  Celto-Romauic  tribe 
of  the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses  never  submitted  to  the 
Roman  papal  spiritual  power,  and  the  wholesale  murders 
of  these  populations,  carried  out  by  fanaticized  Franks, 
directed,  sanctioned  by  popes,  saints,  bishops,  and  by  all 
kinds  and  degrees  of  the  priesthood,  will  for  ever  remain 
in  history  as  the  true  exponents  of  Romanism.  The  Bo 
hemians,  the  Moravians,  all  of  Slavic  stem,  fought  and 
suffered  for  the  independence  of  teaching,  and  the  free 
construction  of  the  Gospel,  as  proclaimed  by  Huss.  They 
extorted  from  the  papacy  and  from  the  imperial  power, 
which  was  subservient  to  it,  the  right  to  administer  the 


42  AMEKICA   AND  EUKOPE. 

Lord's  Supper  in  both  kinds,  before  the  Reformation  firmly 
established  this  order  of  worship.  Even  the  celebrated 
Thirty  Years'  War,  which  established  Protestantism  on 
fixed  foundations  in  Germany,  was  started  not  by  Ger 
mans,  but  by  the  Bohemians. 

Thus  in  different  lands  and  at  different  times,  the  idea 
of  emancipation  from  Rome  burst  out  and  kindled  into 
a  flame.  It  was,  however,  suppressed  previous  to  the 
apparition  of  Luther.*  The  time  for  its  easier  expan 
sion  approached,  and  the  soil  was  moved  by  the  previous 
mental  as  well  as  positive  attempts.  The  reform  of  the 
16th  century  was  in  all  minds.  Luther  applied  the  spark 
to  the  mine.  He  embodied  the  general  longings  that  were 
confusedly  felt.  The  religious  reform  may  justly  be  con 
sidered  as  having  contained  within  its  womb  all  the  sub 
sequent  reforms  and  revolutions  of  Europe,  as  having  pro 
duced  or  facilitated  not  only  the  religious  and  mental,  but 
likewise  the  social  and  political  emancipation  of  society. 
But  as  to  Luther  himself  and  his  immediate  supporters, 
friends  and  disciples,  it  can  be  said  that  all  of  them  were 
the  decided  enemies  of  jaolitical  reform  ;  they  did  not  wish 
to  touch  in  the  slightest  way  the  social  and  political  or 
ganism.  Luther's  sole  idea  was  to  put  an  end  to  the 
power  of  Rome  over  the  dogmas,  the  worship,  and  the  or 
ganization  of  the  church ;  to  emancipate  the  individual 
reason  in  affairs  of  conscience.  Otherwise  he  was  wholly 
devoted  to  the  existing  organization  of  society,  to  the 
power  of  sovereigns  or  princes.  There  was  no  more 
stanch  supporter  of  the  absolute,  nay,  the  divine  power 

*  About  the  year  in  which  Luther  was  bora,  died  in  Switzerland 
a  fugitive  Dalmatic  bishop,  who  was  pitilessly  persecuted  by  Rome, 
for  proclaiming  the  necessity  of  the  same  reforms  which  afterwards 
were  preached  by  Luther.  See  in  Joh.  v.  Miiller's  History  of  Switz 
erland. 


KACES,    POPULATION.  4:3 

of  the  emperor  than  Luther,  even  to  the  extent  of  not  op 
posing  his  authority  even  if  he  used  violence  against  the 
Protestants.  When  Francis  Lambert,  a  Frenchman,  at 
tempted  to  instil  into  the  reformation  a  revolutionary  and 
democratic  spirit,  Luther  strenuously  opposed  it.  The 
German  peasantry,  galled  to  the  quick  by  the  reckless  and 
arbitrary  oppression  of  the  nobles,  embraced  in  their  minds 
the  union  of  the  two  reforms,  the  religious  and  the  politi 
cal,  but  they  found  in  Luther  the  most  bitter  and  decided 
enemy. 

It  must  not  pass  unobserved,  that  the  rising  of  the 
German  peasants  against  the  nobles,  was  far  posterior  in 
date  to  the  French  Jacqueries,  and  to  the  war  against  the 
nobility,  or  the  battle  of  spurs  in  Flanders ;  occurrences 
in  which  the  original  Celto-Gauls  attempted  to  break  down 
the  yoke  under  which  they  suffered.  All  those  insurrec 
tions  of  the  people  in  France,  in  Germany,  as  well  as  that 
of  the  Kentish  boors,  prove  that  similar  reasons  and 
causes  produce  similar  results  in  this  or  that  race,  nation, 
or  form  of  government. 

Luther  and  most  of  the  Lutherans  were  not  moved  by 
the  "grievances  and  the  projected  reforms  of  the  Saxon  and 
Franconian  rustics,  who  in  a  short  but  brilliant  strife,  for 
a  moment  forced  princes  and  nobles  to  accept  and  sign  the 
submitted  reform.  Four  centuries  back  those  simple  men, 
those  genuine  democrats,  put  the  German  question  on  more 
tangible  and  practical  grounds  than  did  the  science  and 
statesmanship  of  professors  in  18-48.  The  peasants  moder 
ately  demanded  the  cessation  of  all  kinds  of  tithes,  and  of 
every  other  species  of  grinding  injustice.  They  asked  for 
the  introduction  of  a  uniform  currency,  and  of  uniform 
weights  and  measures,  the  abolition  of  serfdom,  of  internal 
custom  houses  and  duties,  the  abolition  of  privileges  of 
caste,  free  popular  courts  of  justice,  bails  for  imprison- 


44  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

ment,  etc. ;  in  one  word,  their  demands  embraced  all  the 
fundamental  and  not  subversive  principles  of  a  free  and 
well  organized  state.  To  all  this  Luther  answered,  that 
"  A  pious  Christian  should  rather  die  a  hundred  deaths 
than  give  way  a  hair's  breadth  to  the  peasants'  demands. 
The  government  should  exercise  no  mercy ;  the  day  of 
wrath  and  the  day  of  the  sword  was  come,  and  duty  to 
God  obliged  them  to  strike  hard  as  long  as  they  could  move 
a  limb.  Whoever  perished  in  this  service  was  a  martyr 
of  Christ." 

Altogether  the  first  Protestants  or  Lutherans  in  Ger 
many  stood  on  the  side  of  legitimacy.  "  Cujus  regio  ejus 
religio,"  said  Luther,  transferring  thus  to  the  sovereigns 
the  power  over  the  church  that  had  been  wrested  from  the 
popes,  and  investing  the  princes  with  the  exclusive  power 
of  the  reformation.  The  Lutherans  further  maintain, 
that  God  alone  sets  princes  and  sovereigns  over  the  human 
race.  They  insisted  upon  the  duty  of  submitting  to  unjust 
and  censurable  sovereigns.  The  English  or  Anglo-Saxon 
reform  carried  out  by  Henry  VIII.,  as  the  Episcopal 
Church,  was  the  most  ^ faithful  to  the  spirit  of  Lutheran 
principles.  If,  therefore,  the  spirit  of  reform  is  ana 
lyzed  and  classified  according  to  certain  predispositions 
or  aptitudes  of  races,  the  spirit  originally  evinced  by  the 
German  race  with  all  its  branches,  the  English  or  Anglo- 
Saxon  included,  was  a  conservative  one  in  all  social  and 
political  questions.  From  another  language,  from  another 
race  came  the  breath,  by  which  the  spirit  of  reform  ac 
quired  its  full,  all-comprehending  signification  and  fulfil 
ment.  The  social,  democratic  ideas  of  Lambert  were 
taken  up  by  Calvin  to  the  great  dislike  and  repugnance  of 
Luther,  and  of  the  immense  majority  of  German  reformers. 
Without  Calvin  a  Frenchman,  the  reformation  would  have 
preserved  its  monarchist  character.  Calvinism  gave  to  it 


RACES,    POPULATION.  45 

the  'republican  and  democratic  one ;  to  Calvinism  belongs 
the  merit  of  having  thoroughly  reinvigorated  and  renovat 
ed  the  Christian  world.  Calvinist  writers,  as  Languet  and 
others,  maintain  that  the  people  make  a  state  and  not  the 
sovereign ;  that  the  states  can  exist  without  the  prince, 
but  not  without  the  people.  Such  principles  were  pro 
fessed  by  the  French  and  Flemish  Huguenots,  and  brought 
to  Scotland  by  Knox.  The  Scotch  presbyterians  and  pu 
ritans,  not  by  any  means  the  descendants  of  Anglo-Saxons, 
but  Huguenot  and  Flemish  refugees,  introduced  these  prin 
ciples  into  England.  There  they  fructified  in  independ 
ents  and  puritans,  those  founders  and  inaugurators  on  this 
continent  of  a  new  evolution  of  humanity. 

Democratic  in  principle  was  the  life  of  the  primitive 
Christians,  sustained  and  animated  by  fraternity  and  equal 
ity.  The  example  of  the  primitive  Christians,  the  principle 
of  election  prevailing  among  them,  moved  to  imitation  the 
Calvinistic  and  puritan  reformers,  and  not  the  inspirations 
resulting  from  a  distinction  of  race.  Even  in  the  Catholic 
hierarchy  a  shadow  of  democratic  principle  was  preserved ; 
as  dignities  were  conferred  by  a  kind  of  election,  and  func 
tions  bestowed  according  to  mental  capacity,  and  the  people 
likewise  originally  participated  in  the  election  of  Bishops. 
Democratic  tendencies  were  spread  and  working,  previous 
even  to  the  reformation,  among  the  Italians.  Rienzi  Savon 
arola  proclaimed  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the 
people.  Even  the  Jesuits,  those  stanchest  apostles  of  ab 
solute  power,  and  of  legitimacy,  in  cases  of  need  paid  hom 
age,  in  their  peculiar  manner,  to  the  principle  of  the  su 
premacy  of  the  people.  Parsons,  Allen  in  England  under 
Elizabeth,  Bellarmine  in  Italy,  and  many  others  of  these 
fathers  wrote  and  asserted  :  "  That  God  has  not  bestowed 
the  temporal  or  worldly  power  and  authority  on  any  one  in 
particular,;  whence  it  follows  that  he  has  bestowed  it  on  the 


46  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

masses.  The  authority  of  the  state  is  lodged  therefore  in 
the  people,  and  the  people  consign  it  sometimes  to  a  single 
person,  sometimes  to  several;  they  perpetually  retain  the 
right  of  changing  the  form  of  government,  of  retracting  its 
granted  authority,  of  disposing  of  it  anew."  In  this  spirit 
wrote  Suarez.  Above  all,  the  Jesuit  Mariana  elaborated 
the  dogma  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.  True  it  is, 
that  for  these  Jesuits  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  princi 
pal  object  was  to  prove,  that  Elizabeth,  and  Henry  IV. 
could  be  deposed  by  their  Catholic  subjects.  But  to  es 
tablish  this  they  were  obliged  to  bow  before  the  absolute 
principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people. 

The  principle,  albeit  not  in  its  absolute  purity  and 
vigor,  became  generalized,  reinvigorated,  and  established 
as  an  indestructible  fact  by  the  spirit  of  Calvinistic  reform. 
Switzerland  alone  formed  an  exceptional  case.  The  es 
tablishment  of  the  'Swiss  republics,  of  which  only  those 
of  the  three  primitive  cantons  were  then  democratic  in 
principle,  resulted  from  events  perfectly  human  in  their 
nature,  and  not  out  of  any  specialty  of  race,  as  both  the 
oppressed  and  the  oppressor  belonged  to  the  German  one. 
Thus  likewise,  in  the  struggles  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  confluence  of  events  brought  that  to  pass  ;  albeit  the 
populations  of  the  French  language,  wherein  Calvinism 
spread  the  most  vigorously,  had  the  greatest  number  of 
victims  murdered  by  Charles  V.,  Phillip  II.,  Alva,  and 
the  Papal  or  Roman  inquisition.  Those  of  the  German 
tongue  succeeded  in  finally  overthrowing  Romanism  and 
despotism,  and  in  establishing  the  Dutch  republic. 

Nowhere  therefore  in  the  development  of  modern  civ 
ilization,  in  what  by  some  is  called  the  modern  social  and 
political  comprehension  of  liberty,  does  the  German  men 
tal  or  ethnological  element  prevail  to  such  an  extent  as  to 
give  to  it  a  peculiar  character.  If  even  the  domain  of 


RACES,    POPULATION.  47 

abstract  speculation  or  metaphysics  is  by  common  fallacy 
assigned  almost  exclusively  to  the  German  mind,  it  was 
yet  a  Frenchman,  Des  Cartes,  who  laid  the  foundations 
of  modern  post-scholastic  metaphysical  philosophy ;  it 
was  Spinosa,  a  Hebrew,  who  laid  those  of  the  modern 
rationalistic  system.  In  all  the  struggles  of  our  epoch 
for  liberty  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  the  Celto-Ro- 
manic  nations  struck  before,  and  more  boldly,  than  the 
German  ones.  The  great  French  Revolution  led  the 
van.  In  1822-23  Italy  and  Spain  attempted  to  establish 
constitutional  governments,  while  the  Germans  were  still 
speculating ;  and  so  in  1848,  the  first  shock  came  again 
from  Celto-Romanic  descendants.  Those  Romanic  na 
tions  rose  repeatedly,  imperiously  urged  and  spurred  by 
events,  and  events  alone  influence  and  shape  out  the  desti 
nies  of  the  human  family. 

The  invaders  of  Britain,  the  Angles,  the  Saxons,  and 
the  Jutlanders  were  a  branch  of  the  German  ra<je,  issuing 
out  of  the  stem  which  extended  over  the  greatest  part  of 
the  North,  and  to  which  belonged  the  Scandinavians,  the 
Frisons,  and  some  others.  These  Angles  and  Saxons  dwelt 
between  the  Eider  and  the  Elbe,  where  now  is  Holstein — 
and  even  now  the  Holsteiners  can  be  considered  as  the 
original  and  pure  root.  The  primitive  mode  of  life,  the 
customs  and  characteristics  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  were 
common  to  them,  with  the  great  majority  of  the  whole 
German  family,  as  were  common  too  all  the  myths,  and  the 
divinities,  and  the  legends.  It  would  seem,  however, 
that  in  destructiveness'  and  ferocity  the  invaders  of  Bri 
tain  surpassed  all  the  other  kindred  tribes.  Fire  and 
sword  was  their  law.  The  natives  retired  before  them  to 
the  North  and  to  Wales,  and  about  four  hundred  cities, 
the  remains  of  Roman  culture,  were  destroyed.  This 
Anglo-Saxon  invasion  was  not,  however,  similar  to  that  of 


48  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

the  tribes  who  poured  into  the  continental  Roman  world, 
moving  with  whole  families  to  the  West  in  search  of 
new  homes,  wholly  abandoning  their  former  seats,  and 
leaving  behind  them  a  solitude  open  to  the  invasion  or  oc 
cupation  of  a  new  tribe,  or  of  a  new  race.  Not  the  whole 
tribe  moved  from  the  banks  of  the  Elbe,  but  bands  of  ro 
vers,  leaving  behind  them  all  the  family  ties.  The  same 
thing  was  done  by  the  Scandinavians,  the  Danes,  the  Nor 
mans.  They  could  not  encumber  their  embarkations  with 
women  or  children,  to  face  the  dangers  of  the  stormy  sea. 
For  their  predatory  purposes  they  wanted  hands  rather 
than  mouths.  These  expeditions  accordingly  were  wholly 
different  from  migrations.  When  a  portion  of  land  was 
already  subdued  and  secured,  then  only  succeeding  expedi 
tions  carried  with  them  women  and  families,  but  never  in 
sufficient  number,  and  the  majority  of  the  conquerors  would 
naturally,  therefore,  'be  induced  to  take  wives  from  among 
the  natives.  The  scarcity  of  women  is  the  prevailing  fea 
ture  of  all  colonizations.  The  same  was  the  case  with  the 
first  settlements  in  this  country,  although  made  under  pa 
cific  and  well  regulated,«onditions.  American  history  re 
cords  how  this  scarcity  of  women  was  felt,  and  by  what 
curious  methods  it  was  often  supplied.  In  those  distant 
barbarian  times,  the  same  mode  of  supplying  the  want 
could  not  take  place,  nor  did  there  exist  cities  filled  with 
such  a  marketable  produce.  Therefore,  when  the  Anglo- 
Saxons  began  to  settle  in  Britain,  they  must  have  united 
with  the  native  women.  Those  women,  already  born  and 
brought  up  in  a  certain  culture  and  refinement,  naturally 
charmed  and  attracted  the  rude  barbarians.  That  is  a 
common  and  general  occurrence,  and  can  be  considered  as 
an  unavoidable  as  well  as  a  logical  law,  in  the  play  of  human 
passions.  In  this  way,  by  intermarriage  with  the  native 
women,  even  in  the  first  generation,  in  the  first  years  of 


RACES,    POPULATION.  4:9 

the  conquest,  a  considerable  adulteration  must  have  been 
made  in  the  purity  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  blood.  Subsequently 
the  Danish  and  the  Norman  invasions  produced  new  amal 
gamations.  The  Normans,  brought  originally  from  the 
same  stem  as  the  Anglo-Saxons,  had  been  modified  for  cen 
turies  by  the  influence  of  new  combinations  and  events,  by 
the  settled  mode  of  life  in  Normandy,  and  by  contact  with 
"Western  culture.  Thus  they  brought  with  them  to  Eng 
land  characteristics  new  and  wholly  different  from  those 
of  their  Scandinavian  and  German  ancestry. 

Out  of  those  various  combinations  and  crossings  came 
forth  the  Englishman,  whose  character  and  features  are 
thoroughly  different  from  any  of  the  German  stocks  and 
tribes  from  which  he  is  ethnologically  descended.  The 
English  character  was  formed  under  the  action  of  special 
combinations  and  events,  and  the  institutions  framed  out 
and  developed  by  the  action  of  time,  were  the  result  of 
special  historical  circumstances.  If  these  institutions 
can  be  exclusively  ascribed  to  a  special  mental  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  therefore  German  qualification,  why  did  they 
exist  neither  in  Holstein  nor  in  other  parts  of  Germany, 
where  the  source  ought  to  have  been  preserved  in  its  un 
altered  purity,  and  where  there  was  no  contact  whatever, 
no  mixing  with  the  ancient,  declining  world  ? 

Some  rough  traditional  customs  were  very  likely  pre 
served ;  but  new  emergencies,  new  modes  of  life,  new 
creeds,  claimed  new  solutions.  Therein  and  not  in  the 
distinctness  of  race,  lay  the  germs  of  the  future  English 
nation.  The  English  history  bears  eminently  the  marks 
of  events,  and  not  of  any  special  predestination. 

The   Anglo-Saxon  laws  and   customs,   wherein  some, 

with  unabated  pertinacity,  look  for  the  germs  of  political 

liberty  and  democracy,  are  more  or  less  similar  to  those 

of  all  the  other  Germanic  tribes  of  that  epoch,  and  there- 

3 


50  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

fore  neither  are  marked  by  a  special  spirit  of  liberty,  nor 
by  the  recognition  of  equal  rights  to  every  individual 
member  of  the  State.  The  much  spoken  of  Witenage- 
mot.e,  were  councils  of  the  elder  or  Ealdorman  and  kings, 
that  is,  of  the  more  influential  and  powerful  of  those  who 
were  entitled  to  it  by  the  personal  privilege  of  birth  or  of 
social  position.  Bishops  participated  therein.  Besides 
that,  such  councils  are  common  to  the  rudest  state  of  so 
ciety,  and  they  were  in  use  among  other  tribes.  The  meet 
ings  of  the  Indian  chiefs  and  sachems  to  discuss  their  af 
fairs  had  the  same  bearing,  and  in  principle  the  same  origin. 
Not  these  Witenagemotes  contained  the  germ  of  the  repre 
sentative  system  subsequently  developed  in  England.  In 
ancient  republics — always  municipal — each  citizen  having 
political  rights,  exercised  them  in  person  by  vote.  The  same 
was  the  case  with  the  Germans.  They  had  their  March 
and  May  meetings/  When  they  settled  on  conquered 
lands,  became  scattered  over  extensive  spaces,  and  formed 
large  States,  their  domestic  habits  became  more  fixed  and 
orderly.  These  gatherings  became  more  necessary  and 
more  frequent.  The  n*w  mode  of  social  life  begat  more 
numerous  and  various  interests,  and  complications  in 
creased.  The  administration  of  justice  at  the  outset  of 
society  was  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  Grer- 
mans.  This  obliged  the  knights,  who  were  scattered  over 
waste  territories,  to  appear  in  person  in  cities  where  courts 
were  to  be  held.  But  a  peaceful  residence  in  cities  was 
repulsive  to  the  majority  of  the  knights.  It  seems  that 
under  Charlemagne  they  already  preferred  to  delegate 
their  powers  and  the  duty  of  participating  in  the  courts 
of  justice  to  such  members  of  their  body  as  inhabited  the 
cities,  or  as  were  more  willing  to  sojourn  in  them  for  a 
time.  This  might  have  been  the  beginning  of  the  repre 
sentative  system,  originating  in  new  social  combinations, 


KACES,    POPULATION.  51 

habits  and  necessities.  The  same  or  similar  causes  might 
have  existed  in  England ;  but  the  time  of  its  commence 
ment,  or  the  positive  causes  which  brought  forth  this  sys 
tem,  cannot  be  ascertained  with  historical  certainty. 
When  the  Norman  barons  called  the  cities,  the  inferior 
knighthood,  and  the  yeomanry,  to  participate  in  a  limited 
manner  in  the  administration  of  the  State,  the  cities,  which 
were  incorporated  bodies,,  and  the  country  gentry,  very 
naturally  could  not  appear  in  mass,  but  only  by  their 
mandataries  or  representatives,  as  some  centuries  before 
was  practised  in  France  under  Charlemagne,  and  perhaps 
even  earlier.  The  subdivisions  into  privileged  classes 
was  even  more  strongly  marked  among  the  Anglo-Saxons 
than  among  the  other  Germans.  The  social  body  was 
composed  of  the  high  aristocracy  or  Ealdorman,  where- 
from  the  earls,  of  gentry  or  Thanes  or  Thegons,  of  the  free 
yeomanry,  who  stood  under  the  patronage  of  the  powerful, 
called  Hlaford  or  bread-giving  patrons,  and  the  slaves. 
All  these  classes  were  separated  and  distinct  from  each 
other,  by  a  proportional  gradation  of  the  rights  which 
they  enjoyed.  The  composition  or  weregild  existed  among 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  was  proportioned  to  the  social 
order  of  the  victim.  The  same  was  the  case  among  other 
German  tribes.  The  oath  of  an  earl  was  equal  to  that  of 
six  Thanes,  and  so  down  proportionally.  An  offence  com 
mitted  against  a  woman  of  noble  birth  was  punished  some 
times  with  death,  which  same  offence  against  one  of  lower 
origin  was  atoned  for  by  a  proportional  fine.  So  much  for 
Anglo-Saxon  democracy.  Feudality  was  the  cement  of 
Anglo-Saxon  conquest,  and  of  the  division  of  the  subdued 
lands. 

The  constitutional  liberty  of  England  is  the  work  of 
the  Norman  barons,  who  could  no  longer  endure  the  op 
pression  exercised  over  them  by  the  kings.  The  move 


52  AMERICA   AND    EUROPE. 

rnent  originated  not  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  part  of  the 
population,  nor  was  it  an  outburst  of  a  higher  principle. 
The  kings  injured,  in  various  ways,  the  rights,  the  material 
interests  of  the  barons,  and  they  rose  to  defend  them,  but 
not  because  they  were  moved  by  an  abstract  love  of  free 
dom,  or  urged  to  action  by  preconcerted  ideas.  The 
agencies  in  the  English  movement  of  the  13th  century 
were  wholly  different  from  those  which  previously  acted 
throughout  the  continent.  On  the  continent,  burghers  and 
even  villains  united  with  kings  against  the  nobles ;  in 
England  the  nobles  were  the  first  to  strike  against  tyranny, 
and  called  in  and  admitted  the  commons.  This  was  a  stroke 
of  good  policy,  by  which  the  king  was  prevented  from  draw 
ing  the  cities  to  his  side,  a  policy  taught  to  the  barons  by  the 
events  of  the  continent.  The  movement  for  emancipation 
on  the  continent  was  effected  when  the  Anglo-Saxons,  that 
is,  the  mass  of  the  people,  trembled  at  the  bidding  of  Nor 
man  barons  and  sovereigns.  These  barons  are  the  fathers 
of  the  English  liberties.  After  the  battle  of  Lewes,  Si 
mon  Montfort,  a  French  nobleman,  and  the  other  barons 
called  the  commons  to^  their  parliament ;  they  did  it  in 
order  to  strengthen  themselves  against  the  arbitrary  action 
of  the  king.  For  a  long  period  those  commons — the  only 
genuine  Anglo-Saxon  element,  if  there  be  any — the  knights, 
the  gentry  and  yeomanry  ;  all  of  them  very  reluctantly  and 
even  against  their  will  participated  in  the  parliaments. 
This  is  illustrated  by  the  fines  which  were  continually  im 
posed  upon  them  for  non-appearance.  So  much  for  the  in 
nate  Anglo-Saxon  love  of  self-government  and  of  liberty. 
The  movement  against  King  John  originated  in  the 
lesion  of  interests.  The  barons  wished  to  submit  no 
longer  to  arbitrary  taxation,  to  the  arbitrary  disposition 
and  administration  of  feudal  estates,  to  unlawful  wardships 
over  minors,  and  above  all  they  wished  to  have  the  free 


RACES,    POPULATION.  53 

use  of  forests.  The  rest  of  the  nation,  who  were  equally 
injured  in  property  and  security,  responded  to  their  ap 
peal.  All  this  is  perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  com 
mon  course  of  human  affairs,  and  no  proof  of  a  special 
predestined  exclusive  mission. 

The  division  of  the  districts  or  counties  into  the 
tlmngs  and  hundreds,  was  the  result  of  organic  necessity 
in  a  population  principally  living  on  scattered  farms  and 
country-seats,  in  a  land  having  then  few  and  poor  boroughs 
rather  than  cities.  In  the  necessity  of  organizing  origi 
nated  the  division  of  the  population  and  of  the  city  under 
the  Roman,  Athenian  and  other  republics  and  municipali 
ties.  The  tens  and  hundreds  might  likewise  have  been 
made  in  imitation  of  the  Slavic  communes,  as  the  An 
glo-Saxons  were  of  old  the  neighbors  of  the  Slavi.  A 
continual  intercourse  existed  between  the  two  tribes ;  they 
united  in  predatory  excursions,  and  some  of  the  Slavi 
very  probably  participated  in  the  conquest  of  Britain. 
The  division  of  the  Slavic  communes  into  tens  and  hun 
dreds,  for  administrative  purposes,  can  be  said  to  be  im 
memorial.  It  still  prevails  in  Russia,  and  no  traces  of 
such  a  division  are  to  be  detected  in  Germany  the  foun 
tain  head  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 

The  emancipation  of  cities  is  thus  described  by  Hal- 
lam  :  "  The  progress  of  towns  in  several  continental  coun 
tries,  from  a  condition  bordering  upon  servitude  to  wealth 
and  liberty,  attracts  attention.  *  *  *  Their  growth 
in  England,  both  from  general  causes  and  imitative  policy, 
was  very  similar  and  nearly  coincident.  Under  the  An 
glo-Saxon  line  of  sovereigns  we  scarcely  can  discover  in 
our  scanty  records,  the  condition  of  their  inhabitants. 
But  the  burghers  of  some  towns  were  already  a 
distinct  class  from  the  ceorls  and  rustics,  though  hardly 
free  according  to  our  estimation." 


54:  AMERICA   AND   EUBOPE. 

The  cities  in  England  were  oppressed,  and  in  England, 
as  every  where  else  in  the  ancient  and  the  modern  world,  it 
was  oppression  and  arbitrariness  which  evoked  emancipa 
tion.  The  oppression  of  the  feeble  and  poor  by  the  rich  and 
powerful  gave  birth  to  the  laws  of  Solon  ;  the  same  causes 
produced  the  Tribune  in  Rome,  gave  power  to  the  crushed 
plebeians,  and  were  the  principal  agencies  in  framing  and 
developing  the  immortal  jus  civile.  Oppression,  as  has  been 
pointed  out  already,  aroused  Italy,  Spain,  France,  brought 
the  Norman  barons  into  arms  against  royalty,  and  resulted 
in  the  initiation  of  the  commons  into  political  life.  Ma 
terial  interests  were  at  the  bottom  of  all  these  move 
ments,  and  Hallani  says  with  truth,  "  that  in  the  further 
development  of  English  liberties,  these  liberties  were  pur 
chased  by  money."  If  any  special  characteristic  of  the 
Anglo-Saxons  is  perpetuated  in  the  Englishman,  it  is  the 
deferential  respect  paid  to  aristocracy,  a  feeling  which 
penetrates  the  English  people  to  the  core.  Events  evolv 
ing  from  new  combinations,  different  from  those  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  epoch,  framed  out  the  English  institutions. 
The  conquest  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  by  the  Normans,  is 
one  of  the  easiest  recorded  in  history.  What  history  calls 
the  Norman  times,  gave  and  marks  the  mettle  of  the  Eng 
lish  character. 

The  institution  of  the  jury  is  claimed  to  be  specially 
Anglo-Saxon.  If  so  it  is  specially  German.  As  such  it 
ought  to  have  existed  in  Germany  as  well  as  among  the 
original  Anglo-Saxons  on  the  Elbe,  and  other  northern 
branches  of  the  same  stem.  It  cannot  be  expected  that 
the  contact  with  the  lloman  civilization  destroyed  there 
the  original  German  judicial  habits.  Such  an  assertion 
can  be  applied  with  some  plausibility  to  the  Franks,  Goths, 
Burgundians,  Longobards — but  is  of  no  avail  in  respect 
to  the  immense  majority  of  the  German  race. 


RACES,    POPULATION.  55 

The  method  of  settling  disputes  and  litigations  by 
councils,  composed  of  the  oldest  of  the  tribe  or  of  the 
community  is,  it  may  be  said,  inherent  in  the  rudest  social 
state.  It  has  prevailed  from  time  immemorial,  and  among 
various  nations,  and  to  it  can  be  traced  with  certainty  the 
origin  of  what  is  called  juries.  Thus  the  Amphictyons 
were  a  kind  of  jury.  The  Roman  law,  nearly  from  the 
beginning  of  its  development,  used  a  kind  of  jurors  in 
civil  matters,  jurors  whose  opinion  on  a  given  case  was 
submitted  to  the  praetor.  How  this  judicial  custom  be 
came  obliterated  does  not  belong  to  the  present  discussion. 
In  criminal  matters,  in  Athens  and  Home,  nearly  the 
whole  people  composed  the  jury  and  the  judge. 

The  primitive  Germans  had  certain  judicial  obser 
vances  for  the  investigation  of  material  truth,  more  or 
less  resembling  those  of  other  tribes.  The  so-called  jurors 
of  the  Anglo-Saxons  served  as  means  to  investigate  and 
find  out  the  material  facts  of  the  case,  but  not  to  give  any 
opinion  about  its  validity.  The  circuit  judge  or  function 
ary,  an  earl,  or  a  count,  called  the  nearest  neighbors  of  the 
litigants  to  give  evidence  according  to  their  knowledge  of 
facts.  Under  the  Saxon  kings  no  criminal  cases  were  sub 
mitted  to  the  deliberation  of  such  witnesses,  or  to  that  of 
any  body  of  jurors  selected  from  among  knights  or  yeo 
men.  The  kings  themselves,  or  their  mandataries  deci 
ded  all  such  cases.  Not  the  Saxon  epoch  therefore  can 
alone  be  considered  as  having  been  pregnant  with  the  great 
judicial  institution.  The  historical  development  of  the 
institution  of  the  jury  in  England,  out  of  Anglo-Saxon, 
Norman  and  Roman  judicial  elements  is  very  complicated. 
It  took  place  under  various  political  and  social  combina 
tions  and  conditions,  which  it  is  impossible  to  compress 
within  a  brief  outline.  A  jury  in  criminal  cases,  and 
above  all  for  political  offences  against  the  monarchy  and 


56  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

the  State,  can  be  traced  no  farther  back  than  to  the  reign 
of  Henry  III.,  an  epoch  completely  Norman.  The  barons 
insisted  always  on  being  judged  by  their  peers,  according 
to  the  universal  privilege  of  nobility  and  chivalry  all  over 
Europe.  This  privilege  was  extended  over  the  nation, 
together  with  all  those  constitutional  liberties,  into  which 
she  was  initiated  by  the  Norman  barons.  The  last  but 
the  most  beneficial  of  liberties,  that  of  the  free  press,  was 
for  nearly  three  centuries  wholly  unknown  and  unnecessary 
in  England.  The  cradle  of  the  liberty  of  the  press  was 
Holland,  after  it  became  a  republic ;  and  from  Holland 
it  was  transplanted  in  the  18th  century  to  England,  and 
radiated  successively  over  all  Europe. 

Human  events,  by  whose  diversified  influence  various 
European  evolutions  and  changes  have  been  carried  out, 
as  well  as  the  liberties  of  England,  nursed  in  their  infant 
development,  those  eternal  principles  which  have  given  to 
America  her  lofty  position  in  the  history  of  social  pro 
gress.  As  the  Englishman  has  no  physical  or  special  men 
tal  resemblance  to  the  German  or  the  Anglo-Saxon,  so  the 
American  has  only  few  ayd  very  dim  features  in  common 
with  the  Englishman,  from  whom  he  descends.  Not  An 
glo-Saxon,  therefore,  is  the  character  of  the  Americans, 
and  not  to  this  assumed  origin  are  to  be  traced  the  facul 
ties  and  qualifications  which  mark  the  American  political 
and  social  institutions.  Neither  history  and  physiology, 
nor  psychology  and  logic  justify  the  favorite  American 
theorem,  that  their  freedom  and  democracy  are  the  fruits 
of  their  Anglo-Saxon  descent.  It  is,  however,  the  prop 
erty  of  fallacies,  in  proportion  as  they  extend,  to  run  out 
into  what  is  absurd  and  illogical. 

Statistics,  show  that  in  the  early  periods,  when  the 
English  began  to  settle  on  this  continent,  two  other  na 
tions  composed  the  British  Empire.  The  Irish  and  the 


RACES,    POPULATION.  57 

Scotch — both  of  Celtic  origin — migrated  to  America  in 
such  large  numbers  as  to  immediately  produce  a  new 
physiological  amalgamation.  Various  kinds  of  oppressions 
expelled  them  from  their  native  lands  ;  freedom  and  more 
equal  social  organization  attracted  and  fused  them  in 
America.  Scotch  and  Irish  poured  in  freely  in  the  seven 
teenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  Buchanan  and  other 
statisticians  assert  that  from  1691  to  1743,  263,000  Irish 
emigrated  to  America.  This  emigration  was  occasioned 
partly  by  the  stagnation  of  the  linen  trade,  partly  by  polit 
ical  and  religious  oppression.  According  to  the  same  au 
thorities,  during  the  eighteenth  century  down  to  1829,  about 
a  million  of  Irish  and  a  quarter  of  a  million  of  Scotch  came 
to  America.  The  Dutch  element  in  New  York,  and  that 
of  the  first  French  settlers  in  the  Carolinas  must  likewise 
be  taken  into  account.  All  the  various  elements  of  popu 
lation  were  cemented  together  by  religious  and  political 
liberty,  embracing  every  one,  and  admitting  him  to  equal 
rights  in  the  community,  and  not  on  account  of  his  former 
descent  or  nationality.  Under  the  combined  action  of 
climate,  new  habits,  new  necessities  and  hardships,  new 
daily  pursuits  and  occupations,  new  and  more  intense  men 
tal  and  intellectual  activity,  the  Americans  became  in  a 
short  time  totally  unlike  the  English  in  all  external  and 
internal  characteristics.  Even  in  the  heart  of  New  Eng 
land  it  is  nearly  as  easy  to  point  out  a  genuine  Englishman, 
as  to  point  out  a  Frenchman,  an  Italian,  or  a  Hebrew. 
The  elongated,  sharp,  dried-up  features  of  the  American 
have  nothing  in  common  with  the  round,  slightly  turned-up, 
and  juicy-faced  Englishman.  The  long-necked  American 
has  not  his  type  in  England.  Similar  divergencies  extend 
to  the  hair,  and  to  the  whole  frame.  The  English  phlegm 
is  directly  the  opposite  of  the  febrile  American,  who  with 
reckless  impetuosity  hurries  his  pursuits,  and  uses  up  his 
3* 


58       .  AMERICA    AND    EUEOPE. 

own  life.  In  proportion  as  the  American  character  is  ac 
tive  and  expanding,  these  differences  become  more  nume 
rous,  salient,  and  puzzling.  All  these  changes  were  effect 
ed  by  the  paramount  action  of  combined  physical  and 
mental  events,  and  their  all-powerful  and  uninterrupted 
influence  and  activity  reveals  itself  in  the  various  geo 
graphical  and  political  sections  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Not  only  the  man  of  the  Southern  States  descends  origi 
nally  from  the  same  English  social  class — for  the  cavalier 
descent  from  English  nobility  assumed  by  the  Southern 
planters  is  not  sustained  by  history — as  the  man  of  the 
North,  but  New  England  has  to  a  large  degree  peopled 
the  Southern  States.  The  Southerner,  however,  of  the 
present  day,  has  no  resemblance  in  character  either  to 
the  Englishman,  or  to  his  countrymen  in  the  East  and  in 
the  North.  A  gulf  separates  them  in  mental,  social,  and 
moral  respects.  The  language  is  the  only  common  tie. 
Two  absolutely  ethnologically  different  races  of  the  old 
world,  could  not  present  a  deeper  contrast  with  each  other. 
The  American  world  was  not  called  to  life,  and  is  not 
circumscribed  by  the  narrow,  blind,  fatalistic  physical  laws 
of  race.  Amidst  ups  and  downs,  in  smooth  and  in  thorny 
paths,  at  times  overshadowed  and  then  brilliantly  luminous, 
the  American  world  has  been  the  bearer  of  the  all-embra 
cing,  truly  human  manifestation  of  principles.  They  in 
spired  the  Puritans,  and  to  save  them  they  abandoned  the 
old  world  with  its  oppressions  and  prejudices.  Races  and 
tribes  are  already  fully  represented  in  history.  Each  spe 
cially  has  given  the  last  solution,  the  last  word,  if  in  re 
ality  a  law  of  races  has  presided  over  human  progress. 
To  initiate  man  into  a  higher  sphere,  America  issued  out 
of  nothingness.  The  right  of  reason  watched  over  her 
first  steps.  Carried  as  he  is  here  by  the  current  of  time, 
and  of  circumstances,  man  is  to  make  a  worthy  use  of  the 


KACES,    POPULATION.  59 

principles,  and  the  mental  and  intellectual  qualifications 
with  which  he  is  endowed.  Then  only  they  lead  him  to 
freedom.  Freedom  is  the  mass  of  all  our  physical  and 
mental  powers.  It  is  the  final  aim  of  their  combined  ef 
forts.  It  is  at  once  development  and  consummation. 
Thus  comprehended,  freedom  has  reached  its  highest  ex 
pression  in  the  institutions  of  the  American  free  States, 
and  freedom  has  carved  out  and  has  given  the  peculiar 
mark  to  the  character  of  the  man  and  to  the  citizens. 


60  AMERICA    AND   EUKOPE. 


CHAPTER  II.  . 

O  II  A  K  A  C  T  E  K  I  8  T  I  C  8  . 

THE  character  of  an  individual  or  of  a  nation  is  the  re 
sult  of  a  mass  of  variously  combined  inclinations,  affec 
tions,  volitions,  dispositions,  convictions,  determinations. 
They  are  all  general  and  special,  and  the  traits  or  charac 
teristics  determined  by  them  are  common,  human,  or  indi 
vidual,  when  evoked  by  the  agency  and  play,  in  and  upon 
us,  of  special  conditions.  Thus  nearly  every  individual, 
and  every  nation,  aside  of  what  is  in  its  character  hu 
man  and  common  with  others,  has  certain  peculiar  lea- 

f 

tures  of  its  own.  And^  so  have  the  Americans.  The 
differences  in  character  between  the  inhabitant  of  America 
and  that  of  any  other  country  whatever  in  Europe,  are  as 
salient  as  are  the  differences  of  their  social  state,  of  their 
political  development,  of  their  pursuits,  habits,  and  com 
prehension  of  life.  Those  differences  are  related  to  many 
causes  at  once  ;  their  impartial  appreciation  explains  and 
solves  naturally,  and  therefore  easily,  the  so-called  enig 
matical  peculiarities  of  the  Americans. 

New  and  powerful  interests  and  strivings  have  evoked 
an  unwonted  and  special  current  of  activity,  and  with  it  new 
and  diversified  manifestations  of  man's  nature.  Therein 
is  to  be  found  the  source  of  certain  characteristic  dis- 


CHARACTERISTICS.  61 

himilaritie.s  between  the  man  of  the  new  and  of  the  old 
world.  And  the  American  people  absolutely  ought  to 
have  certain  characteristic  traits  of  its  own  to  fulfil  the 
task  before  it,  to  elaborate  this  task  by  a  new  and  special 
process,  and  to  perfect  its  own  destinies  and  those  of  the 
part  of  the  hemisphere  adopted  and  appropriated  for  such 
an  end.  The  character  of  the  American,  with  all  its 
sunny  and  shady  sides,  was  not  to  be  throughout  the  re 
flection  of  the  European  one.  Sameness  is  repulsive  to 
nature,  indefinite  multifariousness  is  the  everlasting  mani 
festation  of  her  creative  power.  Man  was  placed  here  in 
new  moral  and  material  conditions  and  needs.  Out  of 
the  fathomless  depth  of  human  nature  these  agencies 
evoked  to  the  surface,  that  is  to  life,  to  activity,  new 
characteristics  in  the  individual  and  in  the  people. 

Political  and  social  institutions  often  give  an  indelible 
mark  to  the  character  of  a  people,  and  as  often  again  they 
are  its  reflection.  History  is  full  of  the  evidences  of  this 
fact.  In  America  the  character  of  the  people  and  the 
institutions  have  acted  reciprocally  on  their  development; 
a  case  of  very  rare  occurrence  in  the  history  of  nations 
and  of  their  political  and  social  evolutions.  No  nation, 
no  people  now  existing  is  so  thoroughly  and  intensely  iden 
tified  with  its  institutions  as  is  the  American  people. 

With  sacred  jealousy  the  American  people  watches 
over  the  national  honor,  over  its  relations  with  other 
States,  over  national  independence.  Being  in  possession 
of  the  highest  goods,  no  sacrifice  can  be  too  great  for  their 
defence  and  preservation.  No  invasion  from  whatever 
quarter,  no  conquest,  no  overthrow  of  the  existing  order, 
could  ever  be  successfully  carried  out.  Not  the  presumed 
Anglo-Saxon  blood,  but  the  genuine  American  feeling, 
pouring  out  from  constitutive  principles  as  from  a  foun 
tain-head,  is  the  repelling  force.  Patriotic,  exalted  devo- 


62  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

tion  is  not  an  effort,  but  a  natural  lineament  of  character, 
>a  simple  but  inherent  element  of  national  life. 

The  love  of  social  independence,  of  domestic  liberty, 
and  their  fullest  enjoyment,  produces  in  the  American 
character  that  unbending  quality  which  disables  the  indi 
vidual  from  becoming  a  permanent  denizen  of  other  pow 
ers,  of  other  States.  There  may  be  a  few  rare  exceptions. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  imagine  an  American  becoming 
a  servant  of  kings,  subservient  for  ever  to  social  caste. 
Soon  his  better  nature  must  revolt ;  but  numbers  of  Euro 
peans,  from  all  social  orders  and  positions,  assimilate  them 
selves  easily  and  in  a  short  time  to  the  state  of  things  pre 
vailing  here ;  they  become  identified  with  it  to  the  core. 
To  an  Americanized,  and  therefore  a  reinvigorated  Euro 
pean,  a  return  to  the  past  worn-out  conditions  of  existence 
would  prove  unbearable. 

Whatever  shadows  and  shortcomings  may  be  discov 
ered  in  individuals,  or  in  the  mass  of  the  people,  as  mani 
fested  in  their  domestic,  internal  complications — shadows 
and  shortcomings  mostly  inseparable  from  our  nature — a 
public  spirit  animates  i^s>  whole  people,  and  is  forming 
here  a  public  general  characteristic,  unrivalled  in  history. 

Such  is  the  prominent  and  decided  feature  deeply 
carved  out  in  the  general  national  character.  It  breaks 
out  with  such  a  fulness  and  vitality,  that  definitions  could 
only  impair  its  comprehension. 

Not  that  patriotism  in  itself  constitutes  a  dissimilarity 
between  European  nations  and  the  American  people.  The 
virtue  of  patriotism  is  a  patrimony  of  human  nature.  But 
here  it  has  a  different  source,  a  different  essence,  and  thus 
its  workings  and  manifestations  are  different  from  those 
of  other  nations.  Their  domestic  gods  differ.  The  gods 
of  old  nations  are  local  divinities ;  those  of  the  American 
people  are  all-embracing,  pure  and  elevated  principles. 


CHAEACTERISTIC8.  63 

Tradition  surrounds  the  one  with  its  venerated  halo, 
which  is  often  stifling  and  obfuscated  by  narrow  prejudices, 
by  indurated  hostilities ;  the  American  lares  emit  a  life- 
expanding  flame.  Its  action  is  quickly  penetrating.  Out 
of  a  social  commingling  issues  the  American  people.  It 
derives  its  lineage  from  various  nations  that  are  tradition 
ally  hostile  to  each  other.  On  this  soil  fusion  operates, 
ancient  hereditary  alienations  melt  and  evaporate.  One 
common  patriotism  embraces  and  inspires  them  all ;  rea 
son,  freedom  and  humanity  are  its  watchwords. 

Not  less  salient  and  peculiar  than  the  public  spirit,  and 
created  by  the  same  or  similar  causes,  is  the  characteristic 
of  the  American  mind  manifested  in  the  thirst  for  know 
ledge,  for  information.  It  imperatively  urges  the  individ 
ual  with  a  pertinacity  and  generality  not  to  be  met  with 
in  any  other  nation  on  the  globe,  to  satisfy  this  noble  men 
tal  irritation,  to  satisfy  it  by  sacrifices  of  the  time  and 
means,  whether  large  or  small,  at  his  disposal.  It  is  thus 
the  most  brilliantly  projecting  feature,  and  an  individual 
property  of  this  people.  Not  the  wealthy,  not  the  better 
circumstanced  are  principally  the  expression  of  these  ur- 
gings,  but  it  is  rather  special  to  the  laborious  masses.  Not 
outward  worldly  leisure  produces  or  evokes  it,  but  an  in 
ward  impulse.  That  is  one  of  the  cardinal  differences  be 
tween  American  and  European  populations.  This  craving 
results  from  the  radical  recognition  of  equality  of  rights 
in  every  individual,  inspiring  him  with  self-consciousness, 
with  self-respect,  and  opening  before  him  the  bright  hori 
zon  of  nobler  purposes  and  aims.  It  is  not  a  transmission 
by  blood,  nor  the  result  of  certain  liberal  concessions, 
called  in  Europe  liberal  institutions.  In  the  English  peo 
ple,  the  nearest  kindred  to  the  majority  of  Americans,  and 
living  under  liberal  institutions,  this  spontaneity  is  not 


64  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

awakened,  and  the  mass  still  gropes  its  way  in  a  self-con 
tented  ignorance. 

Neither  is  this  craving  incited  by  an  admonition  exer 
cised  from  above,  by  the  efforts  of  a  government,  by  the 
prevalent  suggestions  or  example  of  a  so-called  superior 
stratum  of  society.  This  American  phenomenon  strength 
ens  the  faith  that  the  human  race  is  to  bask  in  floods  of 
light,  that  enlightenment  is  the  essence  of  man's  nature, 
although  its  eifusion  may  have  been  benumbed  for  un 
counted  ages.  This  characteristic  trait  redeems  at  once 
the  broadest  and  most  truly  democratic  comprehension  of 
a  people,  from  the  cavils  heaped  on  it  by  the  apostles  of 
an  absolute  supreme  authority,  which,  according  to  their 
assertions,  is  to  hover  providentially  above  the  masses,  to 
take  the  initiative  and  to  direct  their  mental  development. 

Extremes  seemingly  prevail  in  the  American  charac 
ter.  It  is  a  combination  of  violent,  nervous,  feverish  ex 
citement  and  sturdy  quietude,  of  calculation  and  daring, 
of  cautiousness  and  swiftness  in  decision  and  action,  of 
steadiness  of  purpose  and  recklessness  in  pursuits.  It  is 
stubborn  and  mobile,  imjfressible  and  cold,  cunning  and 
straight-forward.  Often  inflated  with  immense  pride  and 
self-conceit,  now  soundly  appreciating  ones  powers,  and  then 
humbly  underrating  them. 

Excitement  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  springs  in 
the  American.  It  is  so  contagious  that  new  comers,  af 
ter  a  comparatively  short  residence,  are  affected  and  car 
ried  away  by  it.  Easily  excited,  the  American  cheerful 
ly,  nay  enthusiastically,  greets  the  object  which  for  the 
moment  satisfies  this  necessity  of  his  temper ;  and  no  ef 
forts  of  his  own  invention  are  spared  to  endow  this  object 
for  the  moment  with  all  imaginary  attributes.  Neither 
age  nor  sex  is  exempted  from  this  intoxicating  pleasure. 
He  pays  willingly  and  with  the  best  grace  for  the  moment 


CHARACTERISTICS.  65 

of  satisfaction,  and  raises  the  idol  to  the  skies.  But  when 
the  excitement  is  over,  he  lets  it  slide,  unceremoniously, 
or  often  drops  it  roughly,  careless  where  it  may  fall,  to  run 
the  next  moment  after  another. 

The  people  at  large,  as  well  as  the  various  circles  in 
which  sociability  divides  society,  all  equally  whirl  in  this 
dervis  dance ;  sometimes  in  common  around  a  so-called 
public  character,  a  literary,  artistical,  or  any  other  often 
adventurous  celebrity;  then  around  the  deos  minorum 
gentium,  thrown  in  their  way  by  chance,  or  whom  often 
their  own  excited  fancy  adorns  with  imaginary  distinc 
tions. 

Many  and  various  are  the  causes  accounting  for  and 
explaining  this  peculiarity.  The  nervous  irritability  ly 
ing  at  the  bottom,  most  probably  is  produced  by  the  in 
fluences  of  a  trying  and  changeable  climate.  This  turn 
given  to  the  character  at  an  early  epoch  has  become  now 
hereditary.  The  uniformity  of  the  ancient  colonial  life, 
the  rigidity  of  the  Puritans  and  of  their  imitators,  might 
have  contributed  to  form  it.  Human  imaginative  nature 
revolts  against  uniformity,  compression,  against  turning  in 
one  and  the  same  circle.  Single-track  routine  in  life  is 
repugnant,  and  any  object  or  event  is  welcome  which  breaks 
such  tiresome  evenness.  After  contraction  follows  re 
laxation  in  some  manner  or  other.  So  the  imagination 
eagerly  and  indiscriminately  seizes  upon  any  provender 
with  which  to  appease  its  cravings. 

Even  now,  although  new  and  more  diversified  elements 
are  mingled  in  American  life,  a  certain  sameness  still  per 
vades  it.  The  circle  extends,  the  horizon  enlarges,  and 
nevertheless  monotony  dominates  the  whole.  It  becomes 
the  more  painfully  sensible,  as  the  multifariousness  of  the 
world  from  without,  and  the  longings  from  within  excite,  at 
tract,  and  tickle  the  Americans.  What  therefore  seems 


66  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

to  offer  a  momentary  interruption  of  monotony,  excites 
and  carries  away,  and  often  overpowers  the  better  and 
cooler  judgment. 

During  the  colonial  or  embryonic  period,  the  colonists 
were  separated  from  the  events  of  the  world.  The  gloom 
iness  of  such  an  isolation  was  only  cheered  up  by  arrivals 
from  Europe,  from  the  mother  country.  The  communi 
cations  were  rare,  and  thus  whatever  could  give  a  new 
turn  to  the  monotonous  existence,  must  have  been  heartily 
greeted,  as  a  link  connecting  the  Americans  with  the  gen 
eral,  social  and  civilizing  movement.  It  was  an  echo  from 
a  distant,  fairy  land,  and  even  its  feeblest  or  most  discord 
ant  sound  must  have  deeply  moved,  strongly  excited  and 
affected  those  whom  it  reached.  For  domestic  as  well  as 
for  social  reasons,  any  accession  of  new  comers,  settlers  or 
visitors,  must  have  been  felt  as  increasing  the  moral  and 
material  worth  and  significance  of  the  colonial  existence. 
By  all  these  accumulated  reasons,  as  well  as  by  the  physi 
cal  conditions  so  powerfully  acting  on  the  nerves,  on  the 
frame,  on  the  temperament  of  the  inhabitants,  excite 
ment  became  almost  a  second  nature.  And  what  among 
the  society  of  Europe  is"*  only  a  rare  and  transient  out 
burst,  becomes  here  almost  a  normal  condition. 

Often  by  superficial  observers,  as  well  as  by  the  Amer 
icans  themselves,  excitement  is  confounded  with  enthusi 
asm.  But  enthusiasm  has  its  hearth  in  the  mind  and  in 
the  heart.  Its  sacred,  ever-glowing  fire  pours  from  within, 
warms  and  inspires ;  excitement  blunts  the  imagination, 
or  at  the  best  reflects  only  a  delusive  mirage.  And  for 
the  honor  of  human  nature,  below  the  froth  of  excitement, 
lies  in  the  American  breast  the  deepest  enthusiasm  for  all 
that  is  grand,  generous,  and  noble.  Enthusiasm  generated 
their  history,  enthusiasm  inaugurated  their  political  exist- 


CHAEACTEEISTICS.  67 

ence ;  and  among  all  the  nations  they  alone  emerged  from 
such  a  sacred  source. 

The  great  reproach  made  by  Europeans  to  the  Ameri 
cans,  and  one  which  has  become  proverbial  among  them 
selves,  is  the  excessive  love  of  money,  the  fact  that  they  are 
a  money -making  people.  Undoubtedly  money-making  has 
eaten  itself  deep  into  the  American  character,  but  the  love 
of  money,  although  considered  a  moral  disease  by  all  the 
moralists  of  antiquity  and  of  our  times,  has  been  and  is  now 
the  most  deeply-rooted  passion  in  human  nature.  Under 
one  or  another  shape,  in  this  or  that  manner,  money  has 
ruled  the  world  at  all  times.  Neither  is  the  love  of  it  less 
violent,  less  intense  among  the  immense  majority  of  Euro 
peans  than  among  the  Americans.  If  among  the  latter 
money-making  seems  to  form  the  main  object  of  existence, 
it  is  the  effect  of  various  causes,  intrinsic  and  normal,  and 
explained  as  such  by  their  history,  by  the  concatenation 
of  peculiar  events  and  circumstances,  which  have  sur 
rounded  them  from  the  cradle. 

Money  and  commerce  were  the  only  ties  between  the 
colonists  and  the  mother  or  any  other  country.  The  colo 
nies  of  modern  Europe  have  been  exclusively  mercantile 
enterprises.  Mercantile  speculation  sent  out  the  first  set 
tlers,  and  even  the  Puritans  looked  to  trade  as  the  sole  means 
of  maintenance,  and  of  preserving  the  imperatively  ne 
cessary  intercourse  with  the  old  world.  Mercantile  rela 
tions  therefore  formed  the  pivot  on  which  turned  the  ex 
istence  of  the  colonists  and  of  the  colonies.  Thrown  upon 
their  own  scanty  resources,  the  colonists  could  only  obtain 
for  money  or  money's  worth,  all  the  necessaries  of  life,  the 
implements  and  requisites  whose  possession  alone  could 
preserve  them  from  destruction  when  they  first  exhibited 
themselves  on  this  soil.  All  this  was  to  be  paid  for,  in  some 
way  or  other.  Thus  almost  before  the  first  immigrant  took 


68  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

a  firm  root  in  the  soil,  money-making  became  the  absorbing 
object  of  his  activity,  as  upon  money  depended  his  domes 
tic,  his  family,  and  his  social  existence.  His  entire  social 
position  and  significance  depended  upon  his  commercial 
means.  The  colonist,  his  toilsome  labors  and  sweat,  must 
have  been  the  object  of  greedy  speculation  in  the  mother 
country.  Every  thing  therefore  powerfully  urged  and 
contributed  to  develop  in  him  from  the  start  the  money- 
making  propensity,  and  to  make  it  paramount  to  all  oth 
ers.  It  was  his  defensive  weapon  and  his  salvation.  So 
from  infancy  every  thing  stimulated,  nourished  and  devel 
oped  this  passion. 

Since  the  Americans  elevated  themselves  to  the  dig 
nity  of  a  nation,  the  character  of  the  American  commu 
nity  is  even  more  industrial  and  commercial  than  it  was  of 
old.  Their  growth,  their  increase,  their  prosperity,  are  m- 
dissolubly  connected  with  the  extension  of  their  mercan 
tile  or  industrial  operations.  Thus  money-making  becomes 
more  intense  and  all-absorbing,  as  the  love  of  money  is 
more  inherent  in  commercial  occupations  than  in  any  other, 
and  in  America  every  o^upation  runs  out  into  a  com 
mercial  one. 

Only  a  prosperous  nation  can  be  considered  as  truly 
civilized,  as  enabled  and  prepared  to  enjoy  democracy  and 
self-go v  eminent.  The  prosperity  of  such  a  nation  consists 
in  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  population.  It  is  the  duty 
of  every  individual  to  devote  all  his  faculties  to  securing 
this  blessing  to  himself,  and  in  this  way  to  the  community. 
Money-making,  in  its  true  sense,  is  the  reward  of  intelli 
gence,  labor,  and  toil ;  it  was  and  is  the  road  to  individual 
and  to  general  prosperity.  It  is  an  inborn  and  noble 
pride  to  be  the  artisan  of  one's  own  position  and  independ 
ence.  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  manifestations  of  the  con 
sciousness  of  human  dignity.  The  possession  of  wealth 


CHARACTERISTICS.  69 

has  always  been  among  the  most  powerful  incentives  to 
action ;  money-making  by  industry,  enterprise,  specula 
tion,  is  the  only  legitimate  and  honorable  way  to  reach  the 
goal.  And  of  such  a  nature  is  the  money-making,  which 
engrosses  an  immense  majority  of  the  Americans.  It  con 
tinually  extends  the  area  of  culture.  It  conquers  the  rug 
ged  face  of  nature,  transforms  the  wilderness  into  a  habit 
able  and  cultivated  soil.  It  is  this  which  pushes  the 
American  to  cross  torrents,  cut  his  path  across  primitive 
forests,  disembowel  the  earth,  people  solitudes.  He  tries  to 
make  money  out  of  the  rough  forces  of  nature.  The  sons 
of  farmers,  artisans,  operatives,  as  soon  as  their  faculties 
are  developed,  look  forward  to  the  means  of  securing  their 
independence,  of  making  money.  They  leave  home, 
plunge  into  distant  regions,  and  into  hardships,  privations 
and  toils.  They  try  to  discount,  to  turn  them  into  money, 
that  is,  into  their  own  well-being  and  prosperity,  and  that  of 
their  families.  Money-making  has  given  the  unparalleled 
expansion  to  American  industry  and  commerce,  covered 
the  ocean  with  American  bottoms,  the  land  with  prosper 
ous  cities,  with  nets  of  railroads,  with  mills  and  factories. 
In  proportion  as  prosperity  increases  and  expands,  in 
creases  and  expands  general  civilization.  The  genuine 
Yankee,  that  is,  the  man  of  the  East  and  his  kindred  in 
other  States,  is  considered  the  most  sharp  in  this  feverish 
pursuit.  But  they  have  the  best  and  most  numerous 
public  schools  and  scientific  establishments,  buy  the 
most  books,  and  subscribe  most  generously  for  all  public 
establishments  and  objects,  as  well  as  for  alleviating  pri 
vate  miseries  and  sufferings.  True  it  is,  that  this  all-ab 
sorbing  fever  has  likewise  its  morbid  results.  But  when 
the  good  and  the  evil  are  summed  up,  good  comes  out 
victorious. 

All  conditions  being  equal,  consideration  will  always 


70  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

attach  itself  to  wealth.  Agamemnon  became  the  leader 
of  the  Greeks  in  the  Trojan  war,  because,  as  Thucydides 
says,  he  was  the  wealthiest  among  the  confederated  kings. 
The  starting  point  of  the  colonists  was  nearly  alike,  as  was 
also  their  aim.  The  one  who  first  reached  it  honestly  must 
have  enjoyed  consideration,  the  more  so  as  in  the  colonial 
life  there  existed  few  other  distinctions.  Almost  all  were 
in  one  way  or  another  devoted  to  trade,  and  the  so-called 
ancient  families  derive  their  pre-eminence  from  the  fact 
that  by  successful  labor  or  trade,  they  acquired  before  oth 
ers  a  proportional  independence.  The  distinctions  are 
therefore  only  chronological  questions  ;  their  source,  their 
origin  are  alike.  Those  who  first  acquired  wealth,  and 
there  was  no  other  way  to  do  it  than  by  money-making, 
became  benefactors  of  their  community,  establishing  and 
endowing  various  public  establishments.  It  was  only  by 
acquiring  wealth  they  were  able  to  satisfy  their  nobler  im 
pulses. 

The  sneer  at  Americans  for  their  money-making  pro 
pensity  does  not  become  Europeans.  As  mentioned  above, 
to  this  propensity  the  country  owes  the  major  part  of  its 
greatness.  What  is  done  by  governments  and  sovereigns 
in  Europe,  is  done  here  either  by  private  individuals  or  by 
communities  rendered  prosperous  by  their  own  exertions. 
European  society  had  its  origin  in  the  absorption  by  one 
class  of  the  labor  of  another,  and  this  still  continues  to 
prevail.  The  European  social  organization  contains  va 
rious  social  parasitical  existences,  not  less  greedy  to  ac 
quire  and  make  money ;  only  the  greediness  is  overlaid  by 
certain  conventional  definitions  and  incrusted  prejudices. 
If  the  European  aristocracy,  if  the  world  of  leisure,  the 
official  world  do  not  make  money  themselves,  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Americans,  these  European  classes  make  money 
by  oppressing  millions,  and  living  upon  their  labor,  or 


CHARACTERISTICS.  71 

upon  the  taxes.  European  society  has  various  social  in 
herited  distinctions,  to  which  it  pays  due,  or  oftener  undue 
deference.  American  society,  from  the  start  a  commercial 
one,  very  naturally  paid  and  pays  deference  to  the  success 
ful  money-makers.  It  may  be  that  nowadays  wealth  en 
joys  in  certain  cases  too  much  of  consideration.  But  even 
this  is  paid  to  it  rather  in  social  and  private  relations, 
than  in  political  ones.  However  desirable  it  might  be  to 
have  this  current  modified  at  least,  if  not  changed,  still  it  is 
not  absolutely  to  be  condemned  in  itself.  It  is  in  human 
nature  to  pay  deference  to  success.  In  the  great  events 
of  the  world,  success  is  considered  as  God's  verdict.  In 
a  society  constructed  like  the  American,  moving  in  such  an 
orbit,  generally  devoted  to  pursuits  of  a  commercial  char 
acter,  success  crowned  with  money  is  easily  appreciated, 
understood,  and  felt  by  society  at  large.  By  such  a  suc 
cess  society  is  mostly  benefited.  A  man  who  has  made 
his  fortune  by  honorable  means  and  enterprise,  of  whatever 
kind  or  nature,  such  a  one,  however  deficient  he  may  be  in 
general  culture,  has  nevertheless  given  proofs  of  certain 
eminent  faculties  of  intellect ;  powers  of  judgment  and  of 
combination ;  ability,  in  seizing  hold  of  the  opportune 
moment ;  endurance,  skill,  activity,  energy ;  and  so  he  de 
serves  consideration.  A  fool  or  an  imbecile  will  never 
become  rich — never  be  able  to  make  money. 

"With  all  the  numerous  and  dark  drawbacks  of  this 
propensity,  it  does  not  generate  avarice  in  the  Americans. 
If  generally  they  are  infuriated  in  the  pursuit  of  money, 
they  spend  it  as  freely  as  they  make  it.  If  they  are  called 
men  of  the  dollar,  at  any  rate  they  are  not  hunters  of 
cents.  Parsimonious  economy  is  not  their  characteristic, 
and  in  general  the  racing  after  dollars,  the  thirst  for  gain, 
does  not  make  them  contemptible  misers,  or  callous  to  oth 
ers.  The  celebrated  axiom,  "  Help  yourself,"  signifies 


72  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

that  every  one  ought  to  make  his  choice  independently,  and 
build  up  his  position  by  personal  exertions ;  but  it  is  far 
from  including  any  egotism,  any  cold  indifference  to  his 
neighbor,  to  the  efforts  of  any  one  undertaking  a  difficult 
path  in  life.  Americans  are  generally  the  most  cautious 
persons  in  the  world,  in  giving  free  advice,  in  going  direct  to 
the  point.  They  shun  the  responsibility  of  deciding  for 
another — of  disillusioning  him,  or  of  interfering  with  a 
contrary  advice  or  opinion.  Thus  when  asked  a  question, 
they  mostly  answer  in  generalities.  But  if  the  choice  is 
once  made,  the  pursuit  or  object  selected,  then  they  stand 
by  with  counsel  and  action.  The  settler  in  a  new  and 
strange  land,  is  heartily  supported  in  his  toils  by  his  neigh 
bors.  A  foreigner  or  native,  starting  in  any  honest  un 
dertaking  finds  support  and  credit,  this  mainspring  and 
soul  of  a  commercial  society,  and  nowhere  so  largely  and 
liberally  conceived,  or  carried  to  such  an  extent,  as  in 
America. 

Comprehended  in  a  broad  national  sense,  money-mak 
ing,  a  result  of  the  combination  of  events  that  have  pressed 
upon  Americans  from  th^  start,  and  amidst  which  they 
still  live,  is  neither  reprehensible,  nor  abject,  nor  mischiev 
ous,  as  it  is  commonly  represented.  That  this  propensity 
belongs  originally  to  human  nature,  and  that  here  it  is 
stimulated  by  special  and  peculiar  circumstances,  is  evinced 
by  the  fact,  that  the  Europeans,  continually  pouring  into 
this  continent,  do  not  yield  in  any  respect  to  the  native 
Americans  in  the  heat  and  the  eagerness  of  the  race. 
Among  the  largest  fortunes  may  be  counted  those  made 
by  Europeans,  and  great  numbers,  especially  from  the  com 
mercial  class,  immigrated  here  exclusively  for  the  purpose 
of  money-making,  unmoved  by  any  other  broad  interest. 
Further,  without  the  money-making  and  money-spending 
Americans,  European  industry  must  burst  of  plethora,  or 


CHARACTERISTICS.  73 

come  to  a  stand  still.  Unacquainted  as  I  am  with  the 
whole  nature  and  manipulation  of  articles  of  this  kind,  I 
judge  and  appreciate  the  general  results.  The  general 
character  of  commercial  and  other  business  transactions, 
seems  not  to  be  impregnated  with  so  much  dishonesty  as 
is  often  witnessed  by  England.  Aside  from  the  astounding 
forgeries  and  bankruptcies  which  have  recently  burst  over 
that  country,  foreign  merchants,  above  all  those  in  the 
East,  complain  of  frauds  perpetrated  upon  them  by  the 
English  manufacturers,  and  others  of  the  commercial 
brotherhood.  Although  such  occurrences,  almost  inherent 
in  the  nature  of  commerce,  of  intense  money  worship,  and 
forming  the  dark  side  of  both,  might  happen  in  America, 
at  the  same  time  as  much  integrity,  honesty  and  rectitude 
is  to  be  found  there  as  in  any  country  in  the  world. 
Undoubtedly,  in  individual  cases  more  or  less  numerous, 
money-making  degenerates  into  a  degrading  and  coarse 
passion ;  but  such  cases  do  not  prejudice  or  stamp  the 
national  character.  With  many  who  entered  the  race 
early  in  life,  this  passion  has  subdued  or  absorbed  all  the 
other  faculties  of  intellect — it  has  become  a  second  nature. 
As  almost  every  body  is  obliged  to  run  the  gauntlet, 
one  that  stops  even  for  respite,  is  soon  overwhelmed. 
The  whirlwind  seizes  and  carries  them  away.  Money-ma 
king  becomes  an  unquenchable  thirst,  an  object  of  love, 
an  attraction  similar  to  that  which  art  or  study  exercises 
over  the  artist  or  the  scholar.  It  is  a  power  and  a  dis 
tinction.  Then  money  is  made  not  merely  for  the  sake  of 
becoming  independent  and  rich,  of  enjoying  both,  but  from 
habit — on  account  of  finding  any  other  congenial  occu 
pation  impossible.  It  becomes  an  intellectual  drilling, 
and  a  test  of  skill.  It  becomes  a  game,  deeply  combined, 
complicated — a  struggle  with  men  and  events,  exciting, 
captivating,  terrible,  hand  to  hand,  man  to  man,  cunning 
4 


4  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

to  cunning.  The  socially  passionate  life  in  Europe,  diver 
sified,  and  full  of  various  enjoyments,  gives  to  a  successful 
winner,  new  scopes,  attractions  and  pleasures,  such  as  so 
ciety  does  not  proffer,  allow  or  create  in  this  country. 
An  American  can  with  difficulty  if  at  all  turn  in  another 
direction,  plunge  in  another  passion,  or  activity,  seek 
around  for  new  and  different  drastic  or  soothing  pastimes, 
to  quench  this  ardor  which  for  the  greatest  part  of  his  life 
has  been  concentrated  in  money-making,  and  has  been 
urging  and  directing  his  course.  Thus  where  the  Euro, 
pean  can  stop  or  divert  his  attention  to  other  objects,  an 
American  once  in  the  middle  of  the  torrent  must  go  on, 
spurred  by  habits,  by  the  force  of  events ;  as  even  to  pre 
serve  an  accumulated  fortune,  becomes  in  itself  another  race, 
another  almost  deadly  strife.  Such  is  the  exclusive 
money-maker,  but  he. is  not  the  type  of  the  general  char 
acter, — he  has  no  hold  on  the  people  at  large,  his  dens  are 
in  large  cities. 

No  nation  is  equally  sensitive  and  impatient  of  criti 
cism  as  the  Americans.  They  often  become  irritated  not 
only  by  the  finding  fault1*  with  their  character,  customs, 
manners,  habits,  institutions,  or  culture,  but  find  it  disa 
greeable  when  climate,  soil,  fauna  or  flora  is  judged  infe 
rior  to  those  of  the  old  world.  Various  causes  provoke 
this  sensitiveness,  and  it  can  be  accounted  for  in  various 
ways.  It  results  from  both  pride  and  diffidence.  The 
Americans  are  well  aware  of  their  deficiencies,  but  they 
feel  the  sting  of  injustice  done  to  them  by  those  foreign 
ers  who  obtrude  themselves  as  unrelenting  judges.  Gen 
erally  the  faults  are  overrated,  and  the  people  are  lashed 
by  scorching  and  undeserved  ridicule.  The  American, 
the  last  comer  into  the  family  of  nations,  is  continually  on 
the  alert — not  to  be  treated  or  considered  as  a  parvenu,  not 
to  be  slighted  or  disparaged.  Youth  is  generally  suscep- 


CHARACTERISTICS.  75 

tible  and  irritable  before  it  enters  manhood.  The  more  so, 
•when  occasional  shortcomings  are  maliciously  pointed  out, 
when  the  intrinsic  good  is  almost  overlooked.  The  taunts 
of  English  travellers  and  writers,  of  the  English  press, 
have  principally  provoked  this  irritation,  and  made  it 
nearly  chronic.  Such  authors,  taking  a  superficial  glance 
at  the  country  and  at  its  inhabitants,  have  misunderstood, 
misrepresented  what  they  saw.  Without  investigating  the 
cause  of  certain  effects,  by  which  their  genuine  or  assumed 
fastidiousness  was  offended,  they  deliberately  calumniated 
by  wholesale,  for  faults  committed  by  some.  The  European 
standard,  when  forcibly  applied  here,  must  necessarily 
wound  and  be  faulty,  the  two  states  of  sociability  differing 
wholly  from  each  other. 

Boasting  is  often  carried  by  certain  Americans  to  the 
extreme.  Often  however  it  is  a  reaction  against  slights, 
an  effort  to  veil  deficiencies,  an  effort  made  by  a  people 
aware  of  them,  but  on  the  other  hand  conscious  of  having 
accomplished  in  two  or  three  generations  what  it  took  other 
nations  centuries  to  perform.  Generally,  human  nature  re 
volts  at  taunts,  at  arrogant  reproof,  at  undervaluation. 
Experience  and  time  alone  teach  a  becoming  equanimity. 
European  nations  bear  scoffing  more  patiently  because 
they  have  thrown  it  occasionally  for  centuries  at  each 
other's  head.  Like  old  war  horses  accustomed  to  the  roar 
of  battles,  they  remain  cool  and  self-possessed.  There  is 
on  the  American  surface  much  to  be  rubbed  off  and 
rounded.  Rude  angles  are  to  be  softened,  ease,  flexibility 
instilled.  Time  must  do  the  work.  Refinement  is  a 
fruit  slowly  ripened  by  ages.  And  in  America  the  whole 
people,  not  a  class,  is  the  tree  on  which  the  fruit  is  to  be 
borne.  In  the  people  at  large  reposes  soft  mould  below 
the  apparently  coarse  crust,  and  in  due  time,  the  plastic 
virtue  of  nature  will  cast  it  into  congenial  and  sociable 
forms. 


76  AMEKICA  AND  EUKOPE. 


CHAPTEE  m. 

DEMOCRACY. 

AMERICAN  nationality  has  two  hearth-stones — democracy 
and  self-government.  The  origin  of  all  other  nations  and 
states,  past  or  present,  was  different  from  that  of  the 
American  commonwealth.  America  was  evolved  from  a 
fruitful  social  element  and  principle.  The  authority  of 
one  exercised  over  the  many,  acquired  by  traditional  influ 
ences,  by  superior  physica^  or  mental  force,  or  by  volun 
tary  submission  of  individuals,  forming  one  and  the  same 
race,  family  or  tribe — such  in  all  ages  was  the  beginning 
of  societies.  Nimrod,  Zohack,  Saturn,  Japhet,  Danaus, 
Cadmus,  Theseus,  Romulus,  Odin,  Pharamond,  and  all 
those  heroic  legendary  founders  of  nations  and  states, 
bore  the  same  character,  acted  under  similar  circumstan 
ces  and  conditions.  Conquest  and  the  individual  author 
ity  of  one  over  all,  or  afterwards  of  few  over  many,  begat 
classes  and  castes.  And  so  to  the  present  day,  whatever 
may  have  been  the  changes  and  modifications,  European 
society,  like  that  of  the  ancient  world,  is  composed  of 
three  principal  elements.  The  one,  which  under  different 
names  rules  and  legislates ;  the  second,  which  shares  in 
the  power,  in  the  spoils,  prominently  executes  the  laws, 


DEMOCRACY.  77 

defends,  fights  and  upholds  the  privileged  state ;  the  third, 
on  whose  shoulders  reposes  and  presses  the  whole  struc 
ture. 

Not  one  of  these  elements  existed  at  the  outset  of 
American  communities.  No  hero  or  chief,  implanting  his 
sword  or  banner,  marked  out  around  the  foundations  of 
the  city  the  boundaries  of  an  empire.  No  submissive 
companions  or  subjects  were  the  pillars  of  the  genuine 
American  structure,  nor  was  it  cemented  by  any  authori 
tative  will.  Democracy  was  the  vital  essence  of  this  new 
society,  and  democracy  was  cradled  and  nursed  by  the 
combination  of  events  which  brought  it  into  existence. 
And  not  one  of  the  facts,  axioms  and  theorems,  which  for 
ages  ruled  the  old  world,  had  any  bearing  on  the  new  one. 

Identical  convictions,  aims  and  purposes,  attracted  and 
united  the  primitive  settlers.  Therein  was  encompassed 
social  equality.  Those  among  them  who  might  have  be 
longed  in  the  mother  country  to  a  superior  or  privileged 
class,  at  the  start  gave  up  all  such  distinctions,  doing  it 
either  by  conviction,  or  by  force  of  circumstances.  The 
first  administrators  or  directors  among  the  settlers,  were 
freely  elected  by  them.  Their  fitness,  their  mental  supe 
riority  were  the  qualities  which  influenced  the  choice,  and 
not  any  recognition  of  privileged  aristocratic  superiority. 
Besides,  no  social  supremacy  or  distinction  can  be  trans 
fused  from  an  anterior  condition,  or  built  up  in  colonies, 
with  such  beginnings  as  those  on  this  northern  continent, 
and  above  all  those  of  New  England.  However  socially 
mixed  might  have  been  the  first  body  of  settlers,  necessity 
would  bring  them  at  once  under  the  rule  of  equality  in 
rights  and  duties.  Each  colonist  was  to  carve  out  his  own 
path,  to  work  for  himself.  Mutual  assistance  could  only 
have  been  accorded  by  the  principle  of  association,  and 
not  by  that  of  any  obligation  deriving  from  social  inferior- 


78  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

ity.  The  first  commune  or  village  was  composed  of  equals, 
socially  and  politically.  From  such  a  germ  the  whole 
society  was  developed.  No  masters  -nor  lords  obliged 
others  to  work  for  them  and  obey.  Neither  the  func 
tions  in  the  community,  nor  the  economic  occupations, 
pursuits,  labors,  separated  its  members  into  different  classes 
or  stamped  them  with  inferiority  or  superiority.  All  were 
equally  necessary,  useful,  and  therefore  honorable ;  pulpit, 
office,  trade,  artisan,  workman,  daily  laborer,  were  equal, 
closely  interwoven  and  connected  with  each  other.  A  log 
cabin  was  their  original  abode,  was  the  common  cradle. 

The  old  and  the  new  society  are  as  two  streams  issuing 
from  two  wholly  different  sources.  And  in  their  whole 
course  the  original  difference  maintains  itself  and  prevails. 

The  states  of  antiquity  all  began,  as  Cicero  justly  says, 
under  the  kingly  form  of  government.  The  king  or  hero 
founded  and  ruled  a  city ;  the  city  was  the  state ;  time, 
events,  revolutions,  transformed  cities  into  republics. 
America  began  in  settlements,  in  cottages,  in  townships  and 
villages,  and  when  cities  were  formed,  no  social  or  politi 
cal  privilege  elevated  theiMnhabitants  above  their  breth 
ren  in  the  country.  Modern  Europe  at  the  outset  bris 
tled  with  menacing  towers,  strongholds  and  castles,  over 
awing  the  ancient  cities,  the  ancient  civilization.  Shad 
owed  by  the  banner  of  the  all-powerful  lord,  the  boroughs, 
the  villages  and  hamlets  filled  with  serfs  and  slaves, 
crawled  timorously  before  him.  The  church,  the  curate, 
the  parish,  leaned  against  the  walls  and  battlements  of  the 
stronghold,  and  the  helmeted  lord  was  the  founder  and 
protector  of  the  house  of  God.  A  school  for  master  or 
serfs  was  not  thought  of. 

A  church  'or  meeting-house,  a  school,  a  common  hall, 
formed  the  hearthstones  of  the  first  American  settlements, 
cementing,  enlivening  the  log  cabin,  the  cottage,  the  vil- 


DEMOCRACY.  79 

lage,  the  township.  In  all  this  there  was  no  germ,  no  ba 
sis,  no  fuel  for  an  aristocracy.  No  special  privileges  or 
liberties  to  localities  or  cities,  no  corporations,  guilds,  han 
dicrafts,  or  any  such  subdivisions,  classified  the  population, 
creating  interests  opposed  and  hostile  to  each  other.  The 
embryo  of  the  future  State  and  nation  was  unadulterated 
by  any  of  the  antiquated  elements  which  prevailed  in  the 
social  and  political  composition  of  Europe.  Not  a  tradi 
tion,  but  a  broad  principle  was  sown  in  the  American  soil. 

Charters  were  granted  by  English  kings.  But  they 
did  not  create  any  special  privileges  for  special  localities, 
or  bestow  certain  rights  upon  a  small  number  of  inhabit 
ants  ;  they  related  to  the  colony  at  large,  embraced  its 
whole  population.  The  proprietors  of  certain  large  grants, 
as  Baltimore,  for  example,  followed  by  conviction  or  ne 
cessity  the  general  impulse — as  they  would  not  have  found 
settlers  if  privilege  for  some  of  them  had  been  substituted 
for  general  democratic  equality.  Penn  realized  the  purest 
conception  of  spiritual  and  social  fraternity,  and  not  out  of 
such  germs  could  grow  and  unfold  the  creeds  of  privilege. 

All  aristocracies  have  germinated  under  royalties, 
which  they  have  subsequently  overthrown,  stepping  into 
their  place.  Such  was  the  origin  of  almost  all  the  repub 
lics  of  the  old  world.  Warfare  has  been  the  life-giving  ele 
ment  of  all  societies ;  it  was  the  source,  the  nursery  of 
aristocracies.  The  better  armed  man,  the  possessor  of  a 
horse,  were  the  principal  founders  in  Greece  and  Rome. 
Not  for  war  and  conquest,  but  for  peace,  agriculture,  in 
dustry  and  commerce,  did  the  primitive  settlers,  the  colo 
nists,  provide  themselves  with  arms.  War  and  strifes 
with  Indians,  or  the  warring  in  the  interests  of  the  mother 
country,  were  accidental  and  accessory  events,  and  not  in 
view  of  them  were  founded  and  organized  the  various  co 
lonial  communities.  After  the  cities  of  Europe  had  be- 


80  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

come  successively  chartered,  enfranchised,  or  had  fought  out 
their  liberties,  the  mass  of  the  people  still  remained  in 
fetters.  The  immense  majority  of  the  European  popula 
tion  was  deprived  of  rights,  deprived  of  every  pulsation 
of  political  existence.  So  the  burghers  formed  a  third  or 
a  middle  class  between  the  nobility  or  aristocracy,  and 
the  villeins  or  the  rural  populations.  Here  in  America, 
there  was  no  above  and  no  below,  and  thus  no  distinct 
invested  or  innate  rights  of  one  above  the  other.  And  for 
the  same  reasons  that  America  at  the  start  had  not  the 
germs  of  an  aristocracy,  there  did  not  exist  any  elements 
to  constitute  a  genuine  political  middle  class,  burghers  or 
bourgeoisie  ;  a  class  so  preponderating  and  influential  in 
the  historical  throes  of  Europe.  On  the  contrary,  if  an 
eminence  could  in  any  way  have  been  given  to  a  special 
pursuit  or  to  a  special  position  in  the  community,  it  must 
have  been  to  that  of  the  agriculturists,  the  farmers,  who 
constituted  the  villages,  those  cradles  of  American  society, 
and  whose  axe  and  plough  hewed  out  its  solid  foundations. 
Even  the  temporary  bondmen,  after  having  served  out 
their  time,  became  equal  to»the  other  colonists  in  the  en7 
joyment  of  political  rights. 

The  ancient  monarchies  and  republics,  as  well  as  those 
of  modern  Europe  generally,  received  their  organization, 
their  laws  from  one,  cither  a  hero,  a  founder,  a  king,  or  a 
lawgiver.  Historians,  political  philosophers,  with  remark 
able  obstinacy  draw  therefrom  the  conclusion,  that  no 
spontaneity  can  be  ascribed  to  the  masses  at  large,  to  hu 
manity  itself.  If  a  whole  nation  gives  up  its  former  settle 
ments  in  search  for  new  lands,  in  the  opinion  of  annalists, 
of  philosophers  and  poets,  it  is  some  hero,  who,  to  illus 
trate  his  race,  starts  and  founds  a  new  empire.  If  new 
manners,  new  customs  are  established,  it  is  some  legislator 
who  initiates  them ;  his  fellow-citizens  forming  only  more 


DEMOCRACY.  81 

or  less  malleable  materials  for  the  thoughts  and  the  con 
ceptions  of  one  man.  But  to  discover,  to  explain  who  in 
reality  created  a  new  institution,  or  even  a  new  enterprise, 
it  is  necessary  to  consider  who  were  the  persons  that  wanted 
it.  To  them  belongs  the  first  suggestive  idea,  the  deter 
mination  to  act,  the  power  of  evocation,  the  largest  share 
in  the  execution.  Is  fecit  cui  prodest,  is -an  axiom  admis 
sible  in  history,  as  it  is  in  justice.  The  social  beginning, 
as  well  as  the  successive  development  and  history  of  this 
country,  reintegrates  spontaneity  to  the  masses. 

The  first  regulations  and  rules  for  the  settlers,  upon 
their  organizing  into  a  body  politic,  were  the  result  of  mu 
tual  deliberation  and  consent.  Afterwards  all  colonial 
laws  had  the  same  common  popular  origin,  and  the  same 
spirit  acts  now.  The  initiative  comes  always  from  the 
people.  Not  a  chief  or  leader  called  the  first  Puritans 
together,  and  established  here  the  first  free  communities. 
Washington,  who  for  the  sublimity  and  equipoise  of  his 
character,  stands  alone  and  unrivalled  in  history,  "Wash 
ington  did  not  call  the  nation  into  life ;  he  did  not  evoke 
the  events ;  but  the  colonists  arose ;  the  events  brought 
Washington  on  their  waves ;  independence  was  asserted  ; 
a  nation  was  born.  Washington  in  his  civil  career  was  an 
adviser,  a  tutor,  but  not  a  legislator.  Laws  in  America 
had  been  hitherto  evoked  by  a  necessity  felt  by  the  people, 
and  were  framed  in  view  of  such  a  demand  by  the  people 
themselves.  Contrary  to  all  the  organic  legislations  of 
the  old,  of  the  European  world,  laws  were  not  made  in 
American  communities  to  correct  the  abuses  of  a  power, 
to  stop  oppression  exercised  by  a  single  ruler,  or  a  class 
over  the  rest  of  the  nation.  Laws  were  not  enacted  here, 
evoked  by  the  necessity  to  limit,  circumscribe,  or  curtail 
the  abuses  which  were  called  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a 
portion  of  the  community  and  State ;  laws  were  not  made 
4* 


82  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

here  to  protect  one  class,  and  are  not  directed  against 
another.  They  were  not  imposed  either  by  a  class  legis 
lating  for  its  special  use  and  advantage,  nor  by  tribunes 
or  Solons,  acting  in  the  defence  of  oppressed  masses.  The 
laws  here  have  the  common  consent,  because  they  are 
framed  by  the  common  will,  urged,  evoked  by  common 
necessity.  They  did  not  originate  in  the  attempt  to  crush 
one  class  for  the  benefit  of  another,  and  thus  they  have 
not  been  looked  on  or  accepted  with  distrust  and  hatred, 
*as  have  been  most  of  the  laws  of  the  ancient  and  of  the 
modern  European  world. 

The  primitive  social  and  organic  seeds  of  American 
communities  were  of  the  purest  democratic  nature  and 
origin.  These  communities  were  born  democratic  ;  Euro 
pean  nations  gravitate  across  hardships,  toils,  frustrated  at 
tempts,  towards  democracy.  For  Europe  it  is  a  question 
of  a  social  transformation  from  an  antecedent  opposite 
state,  into  a  new  one.  But  transformation  necessitates 
the  dispossession,  the  annihilation,  or  destruction  of  a  pre 
viously  existing  social  form  or  state.  A  cardinal  differ 
ence  therefore  marks  and  separates  the  two  democracies, — - 
the  American  and  the  European.  The  American  was  at 
the  outset,  and  still  remains,  constructive ;  the  European, 
by  the  force  and  combination  of  events,  is  reduced  pre 
eminently  to  a  destructive  action. 

European  democracy,  in  order  to  breathe  freely,  to  come 
to  daylight,  to  acquire  and  enjoy  rights,  was  of  old,  in  Greece 
or  Rome,  as  well  as  in  modern  times,  forced  to  uplift,  to 
pierce  and  break  through  a  thick  and  heavy  social  crust 
pressing  over  it.  European  democracy  must  question,  at 
tack,  break  down  and  destroy  her  masters  and  oppressors, 
whatever  their  name,  or  their  influence.  So  it  was  of  old, 
so  it  is  now.  The  space,  the  soil,  as  well  as  the  moral 
convictions  have  been  and  are  occupied  by  the  enemies  of 


DEMOCRACY.  83 

her  existence,  of  her  principles.  Democracy  to  get  air  must 
necessarily  destroy  the  superincumbent  structures,  clear 
away  the  rubbish,  and  thus  only  is  she  enabled  to  act 
freely,  and  to  generate  a  new  social  organism.  Thus  Eu 
ropean  democracy  is  absolutely,  exclusively  militant  in 
idea,  in  conception  and  in  action ;  in  order  to  be,  she 
must  be  aggressive,  or  she  is  nothing.  Imperatively,  she 
must  be  born  in  revolutions.  Her  present  existence  and 
action  is  a  whirlwind.  She  has  no  clear  insight,  no  clear 
conception  of  the  future.  Destruction  of  what  exists, 
what  presses  upon  her,  what  crowds  her  out  of  life,  is  and 
can  only  be  her  fixed  purpose.  The  actual  European  de 
mocracy  can  only  prepare  the  soil  for  the  future ;  but 
what  structure,  what  social  form  shall  become  inaugura 
ted,  is  an  enigma  to  be  solved  by  time. 

In  America  the  democratic  elements  are  normal,  and 
no  other  ever  existed  or  exist  now  in  society.  American 
democracy  was  not  born  from  a  social  struggle ;  it  is  the 
growth  of  an  original  social  germination.  In  America  a 
man  is  born  a  democrat,  and  from  childhood  breathes  demo 
cratic  air  and  sucks  in  invigorating,  constructive  democratic 
ideas.  In  Europe  democracy  must  be  taught  to  the  peo 
ple  ;  from  a  theory  it  must  be  transformed  into  a  fact.  Its 
principles  and  notions  must  be  explained  to  those  most 
interested ;  they  must  be  admonished,  aroused  from  slum 
ber.  The  genuine  people  must  be  told  and  taught  that 
they  are  men ;  that  they  have  primitive,  imprescriptible 
rights  ;  that  they  ought  to  claim  and  conquer  them.  Thus 
— in  strict  appreciation — in  Europe  the  impulse  to  eman 
cipate,  to  inspire  self-consciousness  into  the  democratic  so 
cial  element,  this  impulse  always  conies  from  above.  Ideas 
are  to  be  inoculated,  instilled  by  certain  inspired  and  de 
voted  personalities,  originally  separated  from  the  masses 
by  their  education,  their  pursuits,  their  mode  of  life,  and 


84:  AMERICA   AND   EITEOPE. 

who  as  leaders  try  to  penetrate  the  masses  with  their  idea?: 
to  raise  them,  to  become  one  with  them.  Contrary  to 
what  prevails  in  America,  democracy  in  Europe  does  not 
find  its  true  comprehension  within  the  people, — at  the  ut 
most,  is  only  latent.  The  immense  majority  of  European 
populations  are  not  accustomed  to  act  freely  by  themselves, 
scarcely  even  to  think  about  objects  intimately  connected 
with  the  sphere,  the  action  of  a  government.  In  emer 
gencies  they  look  right  and  left  for  personification,  for 
leaders  mostly  beyond  their  class,  from  whom  they  are  to 
receive  direction,  intuition.  The  masses  must  be  concen 
trated,  governed  in  the  strictest  application  of  this  term, 
even  if  it  is  in  the  name  of  the  democratic  principle. 
Events  different  in  their  origin  and  nature,  from  their  hav 
ing  been  engendered  in  America,  events  having  their  causes 
in  a  variously  combined  and  complicated  past,  these  preside 
over  the  destinies  of  European  democracy.  At  present  it 
cannot  and  ought  not  to  be  compared,  judged,  or  a  verdict 
issued,  according  to  the  strict  American  standard. 

As  has  been  already  stated,  American  democracy  was 
not  born  amidst  the  convulsions  of  a  social  struggle  ;  she 
came  neither  violently,  nor  painfully  and  laboriously  to 
life,  amidst  the  death  rattle  of  castes,  social  classes,  or  po 
litical  parties,  warring  for  opposite  and  deadly  antagonis 
tic  interests.  The  conditions  of  its  political  and  social 
existence  and  activity  do  not  depend  on  the  violent  de 
pression  or  subjugation  of  an  irreconcilable  social  enemy. 
The  European  political  writers  and  statesmen  seem  not 
clearly  to  comprehend  this  primordial  character  of  Ameri 
can  democracy.  They  seem  to  confound  the  purely  polit 
ical  nature  of  internal  parties,  and  their  influence  on  the 
legislative  and  administrative  action  and  play.  For  them 
the  names  of  whigs  and  democrats  seem  to  represent  two 
hostile  social  parties,  bent  upon  the  destruction  of  one 


DEMOCRACY.  85 

another.  The  European  publicists  do  not  comprehend 
their  issues.  The  whigs  in  their  judgment  represent  an 
aristocracy  or  a  conservative  party,  similar  to  the  same 
party  in  European  States.  The  party  Calling  itself  demo 
cratic,  has  alone  in  their  judgment  the  character  of  democ 
racy  like  that  of  the  European  or  philosophical  concep 
tion.  But  neither  the  question  of  State  rights,  nor  that 
of  strengthening  the  federal  power,  nor  that  of  free  trade 
or  protection,  of  internal  improvements,  and  others  of  the 
same  purport,  on  which  the  two  parties  differ,  have  the  ef 
fect  of  changing  or  deteriorating  the  constructive  demo 
cratic  principle  which  is  common  to  both.  If  the  strict 
construction  of  State  rights,  as  claimed  by  the  democratic 
party,  may  appear  to  be  more  in  harmony  with  the  pure 
democratic  idea,  it  is  only  in  the  form  and  not  in  the 
substance  itself,  for  since  the  organization  of  these  politi 
cal  parties  and  issues,  the  so-called  whig  States  have  been 
and  are  more  progressive,  more  absolutely  devoted  to  the 
principles  of  equality,  more  averse  to  arbitrary  power,  to 
slavery,  to  all  oppression  and  lawlessness,  than  are  those 
enrolled  under  the  political  denomination  of  democracy. 
All  this  seems  to  be  misunderstood  by  European  publi 
cists,  and  above  all  by  those  of  France,  even  by  those  gen 
erally  belonging  to  the  democratic  creed.  They  cannot 
discriminate  between  democracy,  as  the  name  of  a  politi 
cal  party,  and  democracy  as  the  only  social  constructive 
element  in  American  communities.  Those  well-inten 
tioned  writers  repeatedly  implore  and  exclaim,  Might  de 
mocracy  only  not  be  oppressive  of  the  minority.  In 
their  appreciation,  this  presumed  minority  is  the  relic  of  a 
caste  or  of  a  class  dispossessed  of  power,  averse  and  hos 
tile  to  democratic  elements,  to  democratic  institutions. 
They  suppose,  therefore,  that  the  party  which  holds  the 
reins  of  legislative  and  administrative  power,  has  nothing 


86  AMEEICA   AND   EUROPE. 

so  much  at  heart  as  to  legally  oppress  the  minority,  to 
avenge  ancient  social  wrongs,  to  disable  the  dispossessed 
from  doing  any  mischief  in  the  future.  But  as  there  does 
not  exist  in  the  American  social  state  any  such  stratum  to 
be  absorbed,  destroyed,  or  even  to  be  hemmed  in,  the 
enacted  laws  cannot  under  any  circumstances  have  such  a 
coercive  and  personal  aim.  The  laws  are  made  for  gen 
eral  needs  and  interests,  without  any  reference  to  par 
ties,  and  democrats  and  whigs  are  equally  bound  by  them. 
Finally,  if  a  legislative  oppression  has  followed  and  results 
from  the  struggles  and  frictions  of  the  two  political  parties, 
it  was  by  the  force  of  a  well  concentrated  organization,  that 
the  democratic  or  slavery-sustaining  minority  enacted  laws 
distasteful,  repulsive,  to  the  humane,  honest  and  generous 
feelings  of  the  immense  majority  of  the  American  people. 
In  general,  the  application  of  the  name  of  democratic  to 
the  political  party  knoWn  under  that  term  in  America,  is 
a  monstrous  misnomer. 

The  divergencies  between  the  modes  of  the  European 
and  American  democracies  are  cardinal, — divergencies  re 
sulting  from  different  circumstances  and  events.  Although 
the  essence  is  alike,  and  the  aims  to  secure  the  happiness 
and  the  enjoyment  of  inborn  rights  to  every  individual 
are  the  same,  they  differ  now,  and  very  likely  will  differ 
in  the  future,  with  regard  to  the  methods  which  the  Euro 
pean  democracy  will  be  obliged  to  adopt  and  try  succes 
sively,  previous  to  becoming  a  fixed  social  fact. 

It  is  amidst  the  revolutions  and  changes  to  be  effected  in 
the  foundation  of  society,  that  the  democracy  in  Europe 
can  alone  make  its  way.  She  must  assail,  and  the  assailed 
will  make,  step  by  step,  the  sturdiest  resistance.  The  Eu 
ropean  democracy  is  and  will  be  opposed  in  the  field  of 
facts  and  in  the  region  of  ideas,  of  convictions.  She  must 
meet  physical,  mental  and  moral  enemies  with  at  least 


DEMOCRACY.  87 

equal  if  not  superior  weapons.  The  struggle  or  revolution 
out  of  which  the  American  nation  was  born,  was  of  a  dif 
ferent  character,  as  was,  is,  and  will  be  that  of  European 
revolutions.  Comparisons  are  continually  made  between 
the  American  war  of  independence  and  the  French  revo 
lution,  as  the  representative  of  all  European  revolutions ; 
but  when  impartially  examined,  the  terms  of  both  those 
events  are  to  such  an  extent  of  a  different  kind,  that  in 
justice  such  comparisons  ought  not  to  be  started. 

A  whole  social  order  was  to  be  unhinged  in  France,  as 
it  is  to  be  unhinged  in  Europe.  The  American  colonies 
rose  principally  against  administrative  oppression,  and  the 
injustice  of  a  royal  government,  incited,  supported  by  the 
parliamentary  pride  and  the  omnipotence  of  the  mother 
country,  unwilling  to  concede  to  the  colonists  certain  po 
litical  rights  which  bore  principally  on  their  participation  in 
the  internal  administration  of  the  finances  and  the  right 
of  taxation.  It  was  a  contest  between  nearly  the  whole 
colonial  population  and  a  government  denying  to  it  certain 
rights  that  were  enjoyed  by  the  rest  of  the  English  nation. 
It  ended  not  in  changing  the  internal  social  state  of  the  col 
onies,  but  in  constituting  them  an  externally  independent  na 
tion.  It  was  not  an  upheaval  from  below,  a  rising  against 
domestic  oppression,  exercised  by  castes  armed  cap-a-pie, 
in  privileges  and  exemptions.  The  colonists  took  up  arms, 
not  for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  such  a  privileged  class, 
or  avenging  hereditary  wrongs,  which  had  crushed  them 
for  long  centuries.  George  III.,  after  all,  was  the  ex 
pression  and  the  agent  of  the  majority  of  parliament, 
without  which  his  government  would  have  been  unable  to 
enact  the  stamp  duties,  or  levy  war  on  the  colonies.  There 
existed  in  the  colonies  no  obnoxious  aristocracy,  whose 
head  was  the  king.  Democracy  was  already  socially  and  le 
gally  established  in  the  colonies,  when  the  war  burst  forth. 


88  AMERICA   AND   EtJEOPE. 

It  was  the  normal  state.  With  the  exception  of  the  finan 
cial  questions,  the  colonies  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  self- 
government.  The  American  tories  who  preferred  depend 
ence  on  the  mother  country,  to  forming  a  distinct  nation, 
did  not  enjoy  any  distinct  social  position  which  raised 
them  above  the  rest  of  the  citizens.  When  the  colonies 
became  a  nation,  the  democratic  principle,  which  was  in 
herent  in  them,  acquired  more  fulness  and  expansion.  It 
acquired  space  to  manifest  its  miraculous,  creative,  or 
ganizing  and  constitutive  qualities,  but  it  was  not  the  re 
sult  of  the  revolutionary  war.  The  pre-existent  demo 
cratic  institutions  alone  secured  the  final  success  of  the 
war,  and  without  their  pre-existence,  most  probably  a  new 
nation  would  not  have  risen  on  the  horizon  of  history. 
In  one  word,  the  American  revolution  was  made  to  pre 
serve,  secure,  sustain,  to  give  more  air  and  space  to  a 
democratic  element  which  was  already  active,  and  not  to 
evoke  it  from  nothingness  to  life. 

France  was  externally  an  independent  nation.  Inter 
nally  it  was  subdivided  into  social  classes,  and  the  genuine 
people,  the  masses  were  crushed  by  those  centennial  super 
positions.  The  people  were  to  be  disenthralled,  reinte 
grated  in  its  imprescriptible  rights.  Castes  and  privi 
leges  were  to  be  destroyed  and  disappear.  The  problem 
was  to  erect  a  new  social  structure  on  the  spot  occupied 
by  the  ancient  one.  Democracy,  that  is,  the  people,  was 
to  assert  its  social  and  political  rights  and  existence.  It 
could  not  do  this  otherwise  than  by  breaking  the  massive 
superpositions  which  pressed  it  down.  The  king  was  at 
tacked  and  destroyed,  not  for  any  special  arbitrary  meas 
ure  or  vexation,  but  as  representing  an  odious  principle, 
as  being  the  keystone  of  an  edifice,  the  head  of  a  social 
order,  against  which  were  directed  the  efforts  of  the  dem 
ocratic  element.  Ruins  and  rubbish  were  to  be  cleared 


DEMOCKAOY.  89 

away,  as  impeding  the  new  organization.  Centuries  had 
accumulated  these  structures  and  privileges,  beneath  which 
lay  compressed  a  mass  of  explosive  forces.  They  strug 
gled  for  life  and  daylight  until  the  moment  of  explosion 
came. 

The  ideas  which  prepared  the  French  revolution,  were 
already  in  fermentation  for  a  long  time  previous  to  the 
American  revolution.  The  ideas  of  the  18th  century,  of 
which  France  was  the  principal  laboratory,  acted  even  on 
the  colonies,  on  the  principal  men  of  the  American  revolu 
tionary  epoch,  stimulated  their  ardor,  and  gave,  to  a  cer 
tain  degree,  a  consecration  to  the  democratic  ideas  already 
transformed  into  facts  in  the  colonies.  Revolutionary 
ideas  had  been  brooding  in  France,  in  the  public  mind,  in 
philosophy,  in  literature,  previous  to  any  revolutionary 
manifestations  in  America.  And  this  must  have  been  so, 
as  all  these  ideas  were  directed  against  social  oppression, 
against  castes  and  classes,  evils  of  which  the  colonists 
could  not  complain.  Rousseau  was  the  boldest  and  most 
earnest  revealer  of  the  new  era,  and  his  voice  resounded 
in  the  minds,  in  the  hearts  of  the  masses  of  the  people. 
The  American  struggle  and  success  laid  the  sparks  to  the 
mine,  accelerated  explosion ;  but  undoubtedly  the  explo 
sion  would  have  occurred  even  without  the  previous  eman 
cipation  of  the  country.  The  declaration  of  rights  made 
by  the  American  Congress,  to  be  sure,  will  remain  for 
ever  in  the  history  of  humanity,  as  the  most  luminous  and 
sublime  inauguration  of  a  new  era ;  as  the  first  social  as 
sertion  of  Christian  civilization.  It  vibrated  in  France, 
because  the  people  were  partly,  at  least,  prepared  for  the 
work  of  regeneration. 

The  impediments  to  overpowering  their  enemies  which 
the  two  revolutions  had  to  combat,  were  likewise  of  a  dif 
ferent  kind.  The  struggle,  the  energy,  the  exasperation, 


90  AMEEICA  AND  EUKOPE. 

the  mode  of  destroying  their  enemies,  must  have  necessa 
rily  differed  in  the  two  countries.  In  America,  the  whole 
contest  was  almost  entirely  reduced  to  a  purely  military 
strife.  It  was  an  invading  enemy  which  was  to  be  repelled. 
In  France  the  object  was  to  upturn  a  whole  existing  social 
order,  which  had  been  taking  root  for  centuries.  The 
French  revolution  therefore  must  have  taken  a  bloody  and 
destructive  course.  In  America,  the  enemy  was  only  on 
the  battle-fields.  Arrayed  as  an  army  in  France,  he  was 
in  the  pre-existing  institutions ;  he  had  hold  of  all  the  po 
sitions  ;  he  covered  the  land ;  he  possessed  physical  and 
mental  power  and  influence.  He  was  to  be  ferreted  out 
in  all  his  windings,  and  destroyed.  If  the  English  sol 
dier,  representing  the  power  of  England,  was  justly  shot, 
destroyed  as  the  tool  of  oppression,  as  an  impediment  in 
the  way  of  national  development,  how  much  more  danger 
ous  to  the  French  people  were  royalty,  nobility  and  priest 
hood  !  Their  existence  rendered  any  new  social  order  im 
possible  ;  their  destruction  was  therefore  a  fatal  necessity. 
The  mode  of  warfare  must  therefore  have  been  different 
in  America  and  in  France,  ^s  it  will  be  in  every  European 
nation  which  shall  strike  for  regeneration.  Hence  the 
comparison  between  the  mildness  of  the  American  revo 
lution,  and  the  bloody  violence  of  the  French  is  not  just. 
They  had  different  enemies  to  destroy,  and  were  obliged 
to  make  use  of  different  means  and  weapons.  What 
in  America  was  the  rifle,  in  France  was  the  guillotine. 
The  purport  of  the  American  revolution  was  at  the  out 
set  misunderstood  in  Europe.  No  social  danger,  at  least 
no  immediate  one,  for  the  old  order  of  things,  for  roy 
alty  and  aristocracy,  was  anticipated  by  those  who  were 
the  most  interested  in  the  event.  Kings  and  aristocrats 
throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  Europe,  applauded  heartily 
the  efforts  of  the  colonists.  They  saw  therein  only  the 


Z         DEMOCRACY.  91 

means  to  weaken,  to  reduce  the  overbearing  English  na 
tion.  But  at  the  first  move  in  France,  old  Europe  was 
shaken.  The  news  of  the  convocation  of  notables  in 
1787,  was  received  with  rage  by  all  those  who  rejoiced  at 
the  proclamation  of  American  independence. 

Previous  to  the  war  of  independence,  the  American 
communities  had  already  begun  to  develope  within  them 
selves  the  absolute  principles  of  a  superior  social  organi 
zation,  and  in  this  respect  they  had  surpassed  the  English, 
then  the  only  European  nation  enjoying  liberal  institu 
tions.  If  the  germs  of  such  institutions  were  brought  by 
the  colonists  to  America,  they  became  refreshed  in  the 
democratic  essence  which  filled  the  minds  of  the  Puritans. 
They  grew  vigorously,  and  with  more  fulness  than  they 
ever  could  have  done  in  the  old  world.  No  historical  asso 
ciations  adulterated  them ;'  no  social  privileged  excrescences 
impeded  or  distorted  their  growth.  The  Magna  Charta, 
the  Bill  of  Rights,  was  rather  the  offspring  of  oppressed 
and  injured  interests,  and  by  no  means  an  assertion  of  ab 
solute  rights.  It  was  made  to  correct  certain  abuses,  and 
to  render  their  repetition  difficult  or  impossible.  The 
Magna  Charta  is  a  transaction  between  king  and  nation, 
evoked  by  previous  acts  of  arbitrary  power  ;  it  was  called 
out  by  grievances,  and  thus  may  be  considered  to  a  certain 
extent  as  accidental  in  its  nature,  since,  without  grievances, 
there  could  not  have  been  a  Magna  Charta.  This  acci 
dental  character  is  preserved  in  the  successive  development 
of  the  English  constitution  throughout  centuries.  The 
initiative  comes  not  from  a  broad  principle,  but  from  a 
wrong  previously  experienced,  to  prevent  which  for  the 
future,  is  the  aim  of  the  constitution.  It  is  an  uninter 
rupted  compromising  with  various  interests,  a  strain  of 
concessions,  compacts  and  checks. 

In  America,  at  the  outset,  with  the  first  cry  of  life 


92  AMERICA   AND  EUROPE. 

by  the  colonies,  the  broad,  absolute  principle  was  asserted^ 
and  from  it  the  laws,  the  institutions,  the  legal  and  politi 
cal  habits  were  deduced  and  developed.  The  body  of  lib 
erties  for  Massachusetts,  as  the  mould  wherein  have  been 
successively  cast  all  the  institutions  and  constitutions  of 
the  American  states  and  communities,  and  of  the  Ameri 
can  nation ;  this  body  of  liberty  ascends  immediately  to 
the  fountain  head  of  social  life.  In  1641  the  colonists 
enact  for  the"  fruition  of  such  liberties,  immunities  and 
privileges  as  humanity,  civilization  and  Christianity 
regard  as  due  to  every  man,  etc.  The  English  Magna 
Charta  does  not  embrace  the  people,  but  speaks  of  kings, 
lords,  bishops,  knights,  commons,  leaving  the  mass  of  the 
people  without  laws  or  security.  The  colonial  body  of 
liberties  asserts  the  principle  of  freedom  and  equality  in 
every  man.  The  Magna  Charta  and  the  English  consti 
tution  is  rather  a  pact  concluded  in  a  business-like  man 
ner,  and  for  special  purposes.  The  Massachusetts  bill 
treats  all  the  business  objects  as  deriving  from  principles. 
And  thus  the  colonists  Jed  the  van  before  England,  in 
many  special  enactments  and  measures  concerning  the  per 
sonal  liberties  of  individuals,  and  the  private  interests  of 
the  community.  Thus  the  liberation  of  heritages  and 
lands  from  fines  and  from  all  governmental  exactions,  as 
wardships,  liveries,  etc.,  was  established  twenty  years  be 
fore  the  like  was  done  in  England  under  Charles  II.  The 
right  of  petition  and  remonstrance  was  guaranteed  in 
America  nearly  half  a  century  before  it  was  thought  of  in 
England.  The  guarantee  of  personal  liberty,  as  embodied 
in  the  habeas  corpus,  this  highest  pride  and  costliest  jewel 
of  free  institutions,  was  established  in  America  forty  }^ears 
before  the  act  was  promulgated  in  England.  The  right 
of  a  person  charged  with  a  capital  offence,  to  have  counsel 
aside  from  the  simple  discussion  of  points  of  law,  was  re- 


DEMOCEACY. 


93 


cognized  to  the  accused  in  New  England  more  than  a  cen 
tury  before  it  was  admitted  into  English  courts. 

Various  ameliorations  respecting  juries  were  introduced 
independently  of  the  influence  of  the  mother  country. 
More  than  two  centuries  ago  the  position  of  the  wife,  of 
the  widow  was  secured  by  the  law ;  the  wife  was  sheltered 
from  domestic  tyranny,  while  the  English  law  scarcely  be 
gins  even  now  to  humanize  its  statutes  in  this  respect.  So 
also  were  recognized  the  rights  and  claims  of  children. 
The  German,  Saxon,  English  and  feudal  right  of  primogeni 
ture  was  eliminated  at  the  outset  in  the  colonial  legisla 
tions  ;  and  aristocratic  longings — if  there  were  any — were 
nipped  in  the  bud.  Daughters  inherit  with  the  sons  as 
copartners,  while  the  English  law  scarcely  and  exception 
ally  preserves  them  a  parcel  only  in  the  inheritance. 

All  these  rights  and  guarantees,  constituting  a  supe 
rior  social  and  legislative  organization,  emanated  exclu 
sively  from  the  spirit  which  at  that  time  already  animated 
the  colonists.  This  spirit  descended  upon  them,  not  from 
their  connection  with  the  mother  country,  not  from  affinity 
of  blood,  but  from  the  essence  of  absolute  social  truth. 
Animated  by  it,  the  colonies,  previous  to  becoming  a  na 
tion — above  all,  those  of  New  England — elaborated  higher 
solutions  to  great  social  and  legislative  problems.  The 
above-mentioned  guarantees  and  laws  are  therefore  of  gen 
uine  American  origin.  They  evolved  from  new  and  purer 
conceptions,  new  events,  new  combinations.  At  that  time 
England  did  not  give,  but  received  the  impulse  from  the 
colonies,  where  the  rights  of  man  were  recognized  as  being 
the  paramount  social  agencies.  The  English  constitu 
tional  laws,  born  out  of  special  exigencies  and  complica 
tions,  were  mostly  framed  and  conceived  by  statesmen, 
clergy,  legists ;  the  colonial  domestic  rules  were  made 
chiefly  by  simple-hearted  men,  inexperienced,  unlearned 


94  AMEEICA    AND    EUEOPE. 

in  legislation  or  statesmanship,  but  whose  minds  and  hearts 
had  been  warmed  by  pure  humanity  and  civilization.  Men 
who  deduced  rights  not  from  precedents  and  parchments, 
but  from  the  ever-pouring  fountain  of  the  better  human 
nature.  Only  true  democracy  developes  in  man  those 
transcendent  and  vigorous  mental  capacities  and  qualities, 
on  which  depend  the  progressive  destinies  of  communities, 
of  nations  and  of  the  human  race. 

The  colonies  became  a  nation.  Democracy,  which 
lighted  and  warmed  their  domestic  hearth,  became  a  lu 
minous  phenomenon  in  the  world's  history.  Independence 
gave  it  a  new  impulse,  opened  a  broader  horizon,  and  se 
cured  henceforth  its  untrammelled  and  full  action  in  all 
directions.  Independence  completed  and  perfected  the 
primitive  elementary-  condition. 

What  was  germinating  in  secluded  and  quiet  domesti 
city,  became  developed  in  mighty  social  and  political  in 
stitutions.  A  new  and  complete  polity — the  child  of  new 
events — and  hitherto  unparalleled  in  history,  began  to  ex 
pand  outwardly.  By  the* assertion  and  establishment  of 
democracy  in  substance  and  in  definitive  governmental 
forms,  the  comprehension  of  the  relations  of  men  to  each 
other,  of  the  individual  to  the  state — the  comprehension  of 
his  social  standing  and  rights,  of  his  political  rights  and 
duties,  acquired  a  clearness  and  vastness  hitherto  unpre 
cedented.  In  the  states  of  antiquity,  in  those  of  Christian 
Europe,  the  individual  was  considered  as  existing  exclu 
sively  for  the  benefit  of  the  state,  or  for  that  of  the  power 
or  powers  which  held  and  embodied  it ;  in  America,  for 
the  first  time,  a  state  and  states  were  formed  for  securing 
the  happiness  of  the  individuals. 

The  colonies  struck  for  independence,  because  nearly 
all  the  previously  existing  conditions  of  their  existence 
were  endangered.  Charters  and  privileges  that  had  been 


DEMOCRACY.  95 

once  granted  by  the  royal  power,  and  were  now  violated  or 
annulled,  together  with  certain  guarantees  of  the  mode  of 
the  internal  government,  embraced  and  secured  the  main 
conditions  of  colonial  existence.  The  colonies,  principally, 
nay  exclusively,  pivoted  on  labor.  The  whole  colonial 
population  was  in  principle  and  in  fact  a  productive  one. 
Assiduous  application  to  labor,  to  enterprise,  to  industry, 
to  business  of  every  nature,  and  security  for  what  was 
thus  acquired,  formed  the  essential  and  paramount  terms 
which  constituted  the  individual  as  well  as  the  integral 
existence  in  the  colonies.  Labor  was  the  only  way  of  be 
ing  useful  to  oneself  and  to  the  community.  Privileged 
social  drones  could  not  subsist  in  communities,  which 
started  in  life  in  the  manner  of  the  American  colonies. 
It  was  therefore  not  the  privilege  of  unproductive  con 
sumption,  of  useless  unoccupied  existence,  which  was  to  be 
defended  against  the  encroachments  of  power.  It  was  the 
emancipation  of  labor  and  of  its  products  from  fiscal  and 
arbitrary  control,  from  lawless  oppression  and  political 
disregard,  which  necessarily  formed  one  of  the  principal 
purposes  in  the  rising  for  independence.  It  can  therefore 
be  asserted,  that  the  condition  of  labor  was  at  the  bottom 
of  the  various  causes  of  the  revolution.  Mental  and 
physical  labor  became  finally  and  positively  ennobled.  All 
who  took  up  arms  were  exclusively  laborers  of  various 
kinds,  and  the  revolution  was  to  emancipate  labor.  This 
aim  was  the  natural  result  of  pre-existent  causes ;  it  was 
contained  in  their  essence.  Labor  is  the  soul  of  a  democ 
racy  ;  it  is  the  cardinal  agency  of  progress  and  civiliza 
tion  ;  it  is  the  most  binding  cement  of  every  solid  and  ra 
tional  social  structure. 

The  principles  laid  down  by  the  American  people  at 
the  foundation  of  their  political  systems  and  constitutions 
are  for  the  most  part  simple  and  therefore  elastic  and  all-em- 


96  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

bracing.  Such  also  are  human  rights  ;  they  are  one  and 
the  same  for  the  whole  human  family.  The  American 
constitutions  do  not  take  cognizance  of  artificial  rights  and 
positions,  and  do  not  need  them  for  their  practical  opera 
tion.  They  are  not  based  on  certain  interests  at  war  with 
certain  others,  all  of  which  are  to  be  perpetually  adjusted, 
equilibrated,  kept  in  check,  and  which  continually  threaten 
to  encroach  upon,  to  overboil,  or  to  break  through  the 
artificial  boundaries  surrounding  them.  American  con 
stitutions  do  not  recognize  or  relate  to  abuses  or  privileges 
embodied  in  a  few,  and  thus  they  neither  create  nor  con 
firm  abnormal  situations,  antagonistic  to  the  interests  of  the 
majority  of  the  population.  For  nearly  half  a  century, 
several  European  nations  have  attempted  and  still  attempt 
to  implant,  acclimatize,  and  adapt  the  English  constitution, 
considered  as  the  model  for  every  European  liberal  gov 
ernment.  All  those  attempts  have  ended  and  still  end  in 
failures.  This  is  as  it  ought  to  be.  The  English  Consti 
tution  is  a  special  home-grown  product.  In  order  to  pros 
per,  it  needs  certain  spadial  conditions  of  the  soil.  It 
cannot  operate  with  ease,  without  certain  distinct,  separate 
social  bodies  or  classes ;  it  must  have  at  least  three  springs 
or  social  powers,  acting  on,  attracting,  and  at  times  repelling 
each  other.  The  Constitution  is  rooted  in  the  life,  in  the 
notions,  in  the  habits  of  the  English  people,  of  whom  an 
immense  majority,  for  instance,  look  with  as  much  pride 
on  royalty,  and  above  all  on  the  parks,  the  castles  and  their 
inmates,  as  could  possibly  be  done  by  the  lords  themselves. 
The  Constitution  grew  up  line  by  line,  step  by  step  with 
the  nation  and  its  various  evolutions ;  it  forms  therefore  a 
necessary  complement  in  the  existence  of  every  English 
man.  It  is  an  edifice  to  whose  erection  each  century 
contributed  bricks  and  mortar,  whose  partitions  were  built 
one  by  one  according  to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment,  in 


DEMOCRACY.  97 

whose  windings  generations  grow  up,  and  every  Englishman 
finds  himself  at  ease.  But  for  other  nations  such  circum 
stances  and  conditions  no  longer  exist.  The  internal  con 
ditions  are  different,  and  the  English  frame  never  can  be 
adjusted  to  them.  At  times  too  narrow,  at  times  too  loose, 
this  frame  hurts  here  and  there,  and  neither  royalties,  aris 
tocracies,  nor  the  common  people  which  compose  the  Con 
tinental  nations,  understand  how  to  move  and  operate 
therein.  Moreover,  the  spirit  of  a  new  age  breathes 
over  the  European  nations.  Their  dim  aspirations  are  for 
a  future,  wholly  unconnected  with  the  past,  their  efforts 
are  directed  to  getting  rid  of  those  centurial  encumbrances. 
The  European  nations  are  every  where  undermining  the 
ancient  structure,  with  its  compounds  of  royalty  and  aris 
tocracy.  These  exist  as  material  facts,  but  they  have  lost 
all  hold  over  ideas,  convictions.  Royalty,  aristocracy 
have  no  faith  in  themselves  but  only  in  brute  force.  They 
are  rotten,  decayed  to  the  core.  And  such  is  the  substance 
of  the  two  principal  ingredients  which  are  expected  to  give 
vitality  to  the  Anglo-European  constitutional  system. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  American  constitutions,  simple 
and  uncomplicated  as  are  vigor  and  health,  can  be  safely 
imitated  in  substance,  and  applied  to  every  nation.  They 
embrace  uniformly  all  social  conditions,  and  do  not  need 
artificial  supports.  Every  individual,  rich  or  poor,  can 
live  with  ease,  untrammelled  in  his  pursuits,  according  to 
his  inward  impulses,  his  nature  and  his  choice.  Democra 
cy  does  not  deny  to  any  body  his  human  inborn  rights ; 
all  enjoy  them  equally,  all  are  amenable  to  the  same  equal 
laws.  The  American  constitutions  procure  and  bestow 
the  greatest  possible  freedom  and  space  to  each  individu 
ality.  The  American  people,  the  American  democrat,  the 
American  citizen  enjoys  individually  more  freedom,  secu 
rity  and  power  than  is  possible  in  the  best  fenced  aristoc- 
5 


98  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

racy,  which,  on  account  of  its  abnormal  condition,  and  of 
its  constituent  privileges,  must  always  be  on  the  alert,  al 
ways  on  the  defensive,  always  prepared  to  repel  an  assault, 
or  to  carry  one  out. 

For  the  first  time  in  history,  the  democratic  principle, 
m  full  growth  and  purity,  became  embodied  in  the  Ameri 
can  commonwealth.  For  the  first  time  society  and  states 
were  born,  became  developed,  and  exist  and  operate  with 
uniform,  simple  and  normal  social  elements.  A  past  did 
not  transmit  to  them  any  dusty  relics,  but  only  those  eter 
nal,  indestructible  ideas  which  constitute  the  moral  life,  the 
civilization,  the  progress  and  the  happiness  of  men.  All 
the  ancient  and  European  republics,  when  compared  with 
the  American,  can  be  considered  only  as  outbursts,  as  at 
tempts  on  behalf  of  social  and  political  freedom,  as  indi 
cations  that  the  democratic  ''principle  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  destinies  of  the  human  race.  The  ancient  republics 
at  the  best  were  only  the  forerunners  of  a  new  and  com 
plete  initiation.  Not  even  the  brilliant  Athenian  democ 
racy  was  a  pure  realization  of  the  principle.  Its  origin 
was  already  adulterated.  The  Athenian  democracy 
wrested  life  and  power  from  the  aristocracy,  which  re 
mained  among  the  constitutive  elements  of  the  republic, 
with  the  exclusive  tendency  to  destroy  democracy.  The 
origin  of  all  Christian  republics  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
republics  of  classical  times.  Nowhere  were  republics  be 
gotten  by  democracy.  The  so-called  Florentine  democ 
racy  was  born  and  operated  under  conditions  similar  to 
those  of  the  Athenians.  It  came  not  from  the  people  ;  it 
started  in  opposition  to  a  pre-existent  power,  and  wras 
amalgamated,  and  even  directed,  organized  by  the  Guelfs, 
who  were  no  less  nobles  than  the  Ghibellins.  All  the 
past  republics  limited  the  exercise  of  political  rights  by 
privilege  and  exclusion.  Liberty  in  Europe  had  never 


DEMOCRACY. 


99 


equality  for  her  parent,  was  always  surrounded  with  grad 
uations  and  modifications.  The  use  of  political  rights 
was  always  only  a  privilege ;  in  America  for  the  first  time 
it  was  an  inborn  right,  a  social  duty. 

The  privilege  was  lodged  in  cities,  and  then  in  corpora 
tions  and  guilds.  Cities  established  republics  over  the 
world,  and  as  such  ruled  over  the  land  or  country.  Who 
ever  was  outside  of  the  walls  of  the  municipality,  did  not 
participate  in  the  privilege  of  exercising  political  rights, 
enjoyed  no  sovereignty.  In  America  at  the  outset,  liberty 
was  a  right  settled  in  the  individual,  not  in  the  locality. 
The  rights  accompanied  the  man.  Wherever  he  put  his 
foot,  he  bestowed  them  on  the  soil ;  carried  and  spread 
them  over  the  land ;  and  equal  rights  dwelt  in  a  log  cabin, 
as  well  as  within  the  walls  of  a  city.  The  American  re 
publics  have  no  privileged  central  power  to  rule  over  the 
rest;  wherever  the  people  meet  for  deliberating  and  de 
ciding,  there  was  and  is  the  centre. 

As  has  been  often  mentioned,  the  cities  began  the 
movement  for  emancipation  in  Europe.  It  was  therefore 
a  privileged  spot,  a  privileged  class  that  acted,  and  not  a 
whole  people.  Cities  and  corporations  led  in  the  war,  and 
bore  the  principal  brunt  of  the  struggle.  The  three  prim 
itive  cantons  of  Swiss,  Uri,  Schwytz,  Unterwalden,  make  an 
exception.  In  all  the  other  cantons,  the  cities  represented 
the  republican  power.  In  Holland,  the  cities  struggled 
against  the  bloody  tyranny  of  Philip  II.  And  only  cities 
in  the  past  were  enabled  to  rise.  They  were  the  only  reg 
ularly  constituted  organic  bodies,  when  the  country,  the 
peasantry  was  in  vassalage,  serfdom  and  dependence,  with 
out  any  rights,  without  any  means  of  combination.  No 
where  existed  a  democracy,  and  the  popular  element  was 
seldom  and  feebly  represented  in  cities.  In  the  Dutch 
Republic  the  supreme  power  was  not  in  the  people  at 


100  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

large,  not  in  the  States  General,  nor  in  any  kind  of 
Congress ;  nor  in  the  legislatures  of  states  or  provinces, 
but  in  cities.  And  again,  in  those  cities  the  power  was 
not  in  the  whole  community,  but  in  the  hands  of  a  local, 
closely  corporated  supreme  aristocracy.  These  condi 
tions  were  the  consequences  of  historical  causes,  of  a  spe 
cial  concourse  of  events.  The  cities  conquered  fran 
chises  and  certain  political  liberties,  principally  by  strug 
gles  with  the  knighted  aristocracy  or  nobility.  After  hav 
ing  subdued  the  nobles,  the  burghers  imitated  their  laws 
and  habits.  Liberty  was  not  based  on  natural  primitive 
rights,  but  only  a  part  took  possession  by  force  and  en 
joyed  it.  The  rural  populations,  the  laborers,  the  work 
ing  men  were  regarded  by  the  burghers  with  nearly  as 
much  pride  and  disdain,  as  they  were  once  regarded  by 
the  nobles.  The  burghers  never  thought  of  sharing  politi 
cal  and  social  rights  equally  with  the  people.  It  can  be 
said  that  all  these  republics  were  a  modified  feudality. 
Against  those  privileges  of  the  burgher  class,  the  people, 
who  were  excluded  therefrom,  revolted.  Thus  in  Holland, 
under  the  son  of  William  the  Silent,  and  in  Switzerland, 
in  the  course  of  the  present  century.  With  all  his  civic 
virtues  Barnavelt  of  Holland  was  the  champion  of  the 
burgher  class,  of  the  burgher  privileges. 

Humanity  and  democracy  are  one  and  the  same  con 
ception.  If  man  is  the  image  of  God,  then  the  divine 
emanation  animates  not  a  certain  few,  but  all  5  thus  men 
are  equal,  and  have  absolutely  equal  rights,  equal  destinies. 
In  whatever  way  their  functions  may  differ,  in  the  all- 
embracing  association  and  combination  of  various  activities 
and  interests,  their  virtual  condition,  their  dignity  and  rights 
as  men  are  not  thereby  affected  or  altered.  In  the  whole 
creation  every  thing  is  submitted  to  general  laws ;  their 
various  combinations  constitute  certain  differences,  but  no- 


DEMOCRACY^,  101 

where  is  to  be  found  a  privilege  raising  any  created  being 
above  the  action  of  general  laws.  Nothing  privileged  ex 
ists  in  nature,  and  all  its  forces,  essences  and  elements  are 
for  the  use  of  all  her  creatures,  according  to  the  special 
conditions  of  their  existence.  The  inspirations  of  genius, 
that  sublime  force  which  raises  the  mind  and  opens  the  se 
crets  of  the  creation,  these  inspirations  or  discoveries  are 
beneficial,  and  become  the  property  of  the  whole  race  of 
mankind.  Genius  does  not  limit  its  creative  action  to 
the  benefit  of  some  privileged  few,  and  thus  its  pure  na 
ture  is  therefore  democratic  or  all-embracing. 

The  history  of  the  culture  of  our  race  bears  evidence 
of  the  unrivalled  superiority  of  the  workings  of  democ 
racy.  Democratic  was  the  .social  and  political  organiza 
tion  of  the  Hebrew  tribe,  and  it  accordingly  overrode  time. 
The  Hebrew  law  still  exists.  Among  the  -ruins  of  forty 
centuries  it  still  has  life.  No  other  social  organization  re 
lating  to  things,  castes  and  classes,  has  reached  us  so  vital 
and  indestructible. 

Athens  eternizes  the  blossom  of  the  Grecian  civili 
zation.  Without  Athens,  Greece  would  have  been  over 
powered  and  subdued  by  Persian  kings.  She  would  have 
been  ruled  by  satraps  or  dynasts,  as  were  the  Grecian 
cities  in  Asia.  Not  the  spirit  of  oligarchical  Sparta,  but 
that  of  democratic  Athens  saved  Greece.  Democratic 
Athens  gave  the  lofty  and  unlimited  expansion  to  the 
Greek  mind ;  it  enkindled  a  light  which  shall  radiate  for 
eternities.  The  Athenian  democracy,  during  its  brief  ex 
istence,  works  more  in  the  development  of  the  spirit  of  our 
race,  than  the  most  dazzling  reigns  of  monarchy,  than  all 
the  monuments  erected  by  them — dead  stones  in  the  path 
of  nations. 

"What  remains  from  the  conquests  and  victories  of 
Rome  ?  The  gigantic  republic,  the  more  gigantic  empire, 


102  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 


is  a  heap  eft  mould  and  dust.  But  the  Roman  civil  law  is 
still  a  living  fountain  of  jurisprudence.  And  the  Roman 
law  is  the  product,  not  of  the  rugged,  inflexible  and  nar 
row  spirit  of  the  patricians,  but  its  clearness,  its  omniper- 
cipience  are  due  to  the  accession  of  the  plebeian  or  the 
democratic  element,  to  the  full  citizenship  of  Rome. 

All-embracing,  all-elevating  Christianity  can  only  re 
ceive  its  completion  in  democracy.  Christ  teaches  that 
all  are  equal  before  God.  The  Gospel  is  spiritual  democ 
racy.  But  the  spirit  realizes  itself  in  social  forms.  These 
must  be  of  an  adequate  kind.  There  ought  not  to  subsist 
an  antagonism  between  the  outward  Avorld  and  the  spirit 
ual  one.  If  Christ  leTt  untouched  the  political  and  posi 
tive  social  relations,  it  was  because  he  was  to  regenerate 
the  internal,  the  spiritual  man.  This  accomplished,  the 
regeneration  of  social  relations  was  to  be  made  by  man 
himself,  in  harmony  with  the  moral  truth,  which  had  been 
revealed  to  him. 

Among  the  greatest  deeds  in  history,  we  must  count 
those  in  which  a  whole  people  or  populations,  exalted  by 
terrible  emergencies,  have  risen  to  action,  repelled  inva 
sions,  or  in  the  defence  of  the  domestic  hearth,  of  a  country 
or  city,  in  defence  of  conscientious  convictions  or  of  faith, 
have  cheerfully  sacrificed  life,  families  and  earthly  goods. 
The  people,  generally  deprived  of  their  rights,  and  not 
enjoying  any  privileges,  have  more  than  once  in  history 
saved  their  rulers,  their  oppressors,  who  appealed  to  them 
imploringly.  And  these  oppressed  masses  every  where 
constitute  the  unadulterated  democratic  element,  redeem 
ing  the  faults  of  their  oppressors. 

Europe,  however  slowly,  gravitates  towards  democracy. 
No  cavils  and  objections  can  arrest  the  movement.  The 
Anglo-European  constitutional  forms  of  government,  with 
all  their  deficiencies  and  shortcomings,  are  after  all  the 


DEMOCRACY.  103 

first  initiatory  steps.  These  constitutional  governments 
continually  raise  the  bolts  and  admit  more  and  more  from 
the  people  to  the  enjoyment  of  political  rights.  Popular 
education,  although  in  a  wretched  state  among  the  im 
mense  majority  of  European  populations,  nevertheless  stirs 
up  the  mind  and  creates  longings  for  the  amelioration  of 
the  political  organism.  The  increase  and  the  more  equal 
distribution  of  material  prosperity,  awakens  self-conscious 
ness  in  the  masses.  Large  communities  and  nations  slowly 
but  uninterruptedly  become  more  and  more  intelligent. 
And  even  Aristotle,  not  at  all  friendly  to  democracy,  who 
witnessed  the  decay  of  the  Athenian  one,  nevertheless 
concluded  that  when  communities  become  very  large,  it  is 
perhaps  difficult  for  any  other  than  a  democratic  commu 
nity  to  exist.  Lord  Brougham  prophesied  that  the  Eng 
lish  monarchy  must  end  in  democracy  and  a  republic. 
Enemies  pay  homage  to  democracy,  dreading  its  advent, 
and  nevertheless  recognize  its  all-powerful,  creative  vital 
ity.  So  does  Guizot,  Thiers,  Montalembert,  Balrnes,  and 
others ;  even  so  do  the  kings,  who  set  themselves  up  as 
representatives  and  defenders  of  the  rights  of  the  people. 
The  freshest  and  most  recent  despotism,  that  of  Na 
poleon  III.,  is  in  its  way  a  recognition  of  the  democratic 
principle  as  paramount  to  all  others.  Louis  Napoleon 
recognizes  and  tells  to  the  French  people,  that  he  holds 
the  power,  not  by  legitimacy,  not  by  the  grace  of  God,  but 
by  the  popular  choice,  by  the  popular  will.  Thus,  not 
withstanding  the  political  oppression,  the  chaining  of  all 
kinds  of  liberties — of  which  the  masses  of  the  people  en 
joyed  less  than  the  burgher  class — these  masses  become 
accustomed  to  consider  themselves  as  the  source  of  power, 
as  the  social  kernel.  This  is  what  is  principally  wanting, 
and  hence,  even  this  degrading  despotism  can  after  all  be 
considered  as  a  social  and  democratic  progress.  It  is  a 


104  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

mental  schooling  of  the  people  at  large,  and  however  vi 
cious  and  defective  it  may  be,  it  is  better  than  nothing. 
So  in  learning  the  rudiments  of  reading,  even  a  bad 
schoolmaster  is  preferable  to  none,  and  a  vicious  spelling 
is  more  satisfactory  than  total  ignorance.  At  any  rate  the 
idea  is  stirred  up,  the  impulse  is  given,  and  the  people  at 
large  become  familiar  with  the  regular  operation  of  the  in 
stitution,  even  in  its  present  falsified  state.  The  people 
will  no  more  be  dispossessed  of  the  notion,  and  a  short 
time  will  teach  them  to  handle  the  power  more  thoroughly 
and  normally,  and  hence  more  efficaciously. 

Thus  in  Europe  democracy  is  a  rising  tide.  It  rises 
slowly  but  uninterruptedly.  It  overflows,  carrying  away, 
one  after  another,  the  barriers  and  impediments  erected  to 
arrest  or  suppress  it.  It  is  not  organized,  not  construc 
tive  ;  it  tears  every  thing  down ;  it  has  hitherto  been  a  black 
tornado,  approaching  nearer  and  nearer,  but  its  final  out 
burst  will  be  terrific.  The  fears,  as  well  as  the  concessions 
of  its  most  inveterate  enemies  are  the  best  evidences  of 
the  all-powerful  working  of  the  democratic  principle,  of 
its  eternal  right,  of  its  incontestable  supremacy.  Rulers 
arid  partisans  of  the  right  divine,  of  exemptions  and  priv 
ileges,  speak  continually  of  the  just  claims  of  the  people, 
of  necessary  concessions  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  other 
similar  objects — all  of  them  satisfactions  given  to  the  dem 
ocratic  principle.  .  All  this  is  a  first  vacillating  step,  but 
by  the  invariable  laws  of  logic  and  dynamics,  the  next 
must  follow.  Customs,  manners,  social  pursuits,  level 
conditions,  bring  men  together  and  mix  them  continually. 
The  means  of  mental  development  and  culture  are  daily 
enlarged  in  Europe,  and  are  accessible  without  distinction. 
Not  difference  of  birth,  but  poverty  shuts  any  person  out 
from  using  and  being  benefited  by  them.  True  it  is  that 
notwithstanding  all  this,  the  past  with  most  of  its  niches, 


DEMOCRACY.  105 

hooks,  social  compartments,  stands  there  upright,  over 
shadows  and  impedes  a  healthy,  normal  growth.  But  this 
past  no  longer  fructifies  European  life,  and  its  representa 
tives  are  useless  to  themselves  and  to  society.  So  the 
centennial  oak  of  the  forest,  eaten  up  at  the  heart,  barren 
and  leafless,  overtops  the  new  and  vigorous  vegetation. 
But  its  branches,  its  roots  are  dead,  storms  break  them 
away,  and  finally  the  giant  falls,  uprooted  and  prostrate. 

For  ages  democracy  has  been  variously  assailed  as  a 
principle,  as  a  civilizing  and  social  agency,  as  a  political  and 
governmental  institution.  No  cavils  have  been  spared 
against  her.  All  social  evils  are  attributed  to  her.  Since 
the  establishment  of  the  American  commonwealth,  the  old 
flaws  are  diligently  reproduced,  and  large  telescopes  and 
highly  powerful  microscopes  are  directed  for  the  purpose 
of  discovering  new  ones.  These  accusations  are  as  diver 
sified  as  the  human  passions,  and  the  .perpetrators  of  them, 
now  as  in  all  times,  in  all  epochs,  belong  to  the  class  or 
political  party  dispossessed  of  power  by  the  democracy. 

Among  the  foremost  reproaches  brought  against  de 
mocracy,  is  that  of  instability  in  political  and  social  institu 
tions  ;  instability  in  aims,  workings,  and  ways.  Democracy 
is  represented  as  destitute  of  all  respect  or  veneration  for 
time-hallowed  axioms,  theories,  institutions.  But  insta 
bility  and  not  veneration  of  the  past,  not  deference  to 
opinions,  to  facts,  and  to  results  of  different  conditions : 
instability  is  the  principal  agency  and  condition  of  pro 
gress  and  of  development.  Nature  is  an  eternal  creation, 
life  and  motion.  The  embryo,  the  kernel,  throw  away 
their  first  shapes  and  forms,  put  on  another,  and  are  unin 
terruptedly  in  a  process  of  transformation.  What  logical 
or  moral  reason  or  right  has  the  past  -which  is  a  corpse,  to 
fetter  the  life,  the  motion,  the  activity  of  the  present  ? 
What  right  have  defunct  generations  which  lived,  moved, 
5* 


106  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

acted,  amidst  certain  different  circumstances,  impulses  and 
exigences,  to  tie  and  enchain  those  succeeding  them,  and 
placed  or  thrown  in  conditions  new  and  diverse  ?  Nearly 
every  scientific  progress  or  discovery  is  made  under  the 
law  of  instability.  If  the  existing  conceptions  on  all  sci 
entific  subjects  had  been  religiously  upheld  and  maintained, 
all  the  immense  developments  which  have  so  rapidly  suc 
ceeded  each  other,  would  have  become  utterly  impossible. 
Why  should  social  and  political  institutions  and  forms 
alone  constitute  an  exception  ?  or  by  what  obligations  are 
the  successors  made  to  wear  forcibly  the  gear  of  those  who 
lived  before  them  ?  America  shows  in  its  rapid  progress, 
in  its  wonderful  development,  that  man  can  successfully 
upturn  and  erect,  destroy  and  construct,  and  that  mate 
rially  and  socially,  new  edifices,  as  new  institutions  adapt 
themselves  easier  to  men,  assure  his  power  over  nature, 
develope  the  resources  of  the  soil,  and  render  it  more  fit 
for  the  comfortable  support  of  life.  Every  generation  has 
the  right  to  build  up  its  own  dwelling.  Old  edifices  and 
castles  are  admirable  to  lo^k  at,  but  generally  uncomforta 
ble  to  live  in.  They  do  not  answer  to  a  changed  or  modi 
fied  condition  of  life,  to  new  notions,  habits,  occupations. 
Modern  existence,  modern  generations  require  air  and 
light  in  streams.  In  the  same  way  it  is  more  considerate, 
from  the  financial  and  economical  stand-point  to  invest  less 
capital  in  walls,  and  not  construct  them  for  centuries.  A 
house,  an  edifice  might  be  constructed  at  the  cost  of  one 
hundred  or  fifty  dollars,  and  be  equally  suitable,  substan 
tial,  and  adapted  to  the  principal  purpose.  The  one  might 
last  centuries,  the  other  a  few  decades.  But  the  surplus 
of  the  cost  economized  on  the  second  building,  can  be  in 
vested  in  a  productive  way,  and  enable  the  next  successor 
to  build  with  it  a  suitable  new  house.  That  built  up  for 
centuries,  deteriorates,  loses  in  value,  impoverishes  the 


DEMOCRACY.  107 

owner,  and  does  not  in  reality  contribute  to  private  or 
public  comfort  or  good.  The  same  to  a  certain  degree  is 
the  case  with  social  and  political  institutions.  Not  that 
every  conception,  idea  or  structure  of  the  past  should  be 
absolutely  pushed  aside,  condemned  and  declared  to  be 
useless.  There  is  an  uninterrupted  chain  of  mental  and 
physical  transmission  running  through  and  cementing  gen 
erations.  But  the  living  one  has  unlimited  power  to  se 
lect,  to  make  its  own  choice,  to  preserve  and  reject  what  it 
judges  and  recognizes  as  proper  or  useless,  to  live  accord 
ing  to  its  own  chances,  will  and  decision.  When  a  life- 
giving,  all-embracing  and  fruitful  principle  reposes  at  the 
bottom,  when  in  its  development  and  free  action  it  shapes 
out  society,  embraces  it  and  penetrates  it  in  all  its  fibres, 
then  the  instability  on  the  surface  is  neither  dangerous  nor 
destructive.  Instability  is  the  manifestation  of  health  and 
vigor — stimulates  man's  creative  powers.  In  new  mental, 
social  and  material  productions,  man  constantly  attempts 
to  reach  higher  regions,  to  give  more  perfect  solutions ;  to 
improve,  embellish  his  existence,  his  social  and  domestic 
relations. 

Besides,  a  man  born  in  1856  is  chronologically  and 
arithmetically  older  than  one  born  one  thousand  or  two 
thousand  years  before  him.  To  call  the  past  the  older 
time  is  logically  a  misnomer.  The  present  is  older  than 
the  past  and  wiser  too ;  it  inherits  the  experience,  the  dis 
coveries,  the  sum  of  activity  of  bygone  times.  Bacon,  the 
great  utterer  of  axioms  for  the  concerns  of  practical  and 
every  day  life,  was  the  first  who,  with  his  wonted  clearness, 
assigned  in  this  respect  to  the  past  its  true  relation  with 
the  present.  As  the  result  of  instability,  destructiveness 
is  largely  put  to  the  account  of  democracies.  It  is  de 
clared  to  be  innate  with  them.  So  democracies  are  ac 
cused  of  having  by  intestine  discords  accelerated  the 


108  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

downfall  of  Athens,  Thebes,  and  other  smaller  Greek  re 
publics,  and  in  Christian  times,  of  having  been  the  occa 
sion  of  the  destruction  of  the  Florentine  republic.  It  has 
already  been  mentioned  who  are  the  accusers.  The 
storms,  the  dissensions  which  beat  thus  furiously  on  the 
ancient  republics  always  originated  with  the  aristocratic 
parties  attempting  to  reseize  the  power.  Democracies 
once  in  normal  political  motion,  that  is.  when  no  violent, 
treacherous  impediments  are  thrown  in  their  way,  are  nei 
ther  vindictive  nor  aggressive,  but  elastic,  confiding,  un 
suspicious,  good-tempered,  that  is  to  say,  aiming  and 
wishing  to  enjoy  life,  and  let  others  do  likewise.  Democ 
racies  in  their  normal  state  are  the  everlasting  youth  of 
humanity.  Such  was  the  Athenian  democracy  after  the 
Persian  war,  and  for  years  under  Pericles.  Such  to  a 
great  extent  was  the.Theban  under  Pelopidas  and  Epam- 
inondas,  and  the  Florentine  without  their  Medici  and  their 
Palleschi.  Every  where  the  aristocracies  conspired,  cre 
ated  internal  convulsions,  stirred  up  discontent,  calum 
niated,  threw  all  kinds  of  impediments  in  the  way  of  the 
regular  functions  of  the  "republic,  betrayed,  invoked  for 
eign  intervention  or  influence.  Such  was  the  case  in 
Greece  during  the  Peloponnesian  wars.  Democracies  have 
never,  not  on  a  single  occasion,  betrayed  a  country.  Cor 
ruptions  have  been  almost  a  specialty  of  oligarchies  and 
aristocracies,  from  Sparta  down  to  our  own  times.  Aris 
tocracies,  not  democracies,  join  invaders  and  foreign  ene 
mies.  Aristocracies  create  anarchy  and  bring  final  de 
struction.  Not  the  plebeians,  but  the  patricians  of  Borne 
received  gold  from  Jugurtha,  and  so  it  has  always  been  in 
history. 

Aristocracies  have  formed  and  still  form  always  egotisti 
cal,  unsubmissive  minorities,  usually  preferring  the  destruc 
tion  of  the  state  rather  than  to  submit  to  the  general  rule, 


DEMOCRACY.  109 

to  submit  to  laws  equal  for  all.  Because  aristocracies, 
when  wielding  power,  did  it  for  special  aims,  always  prom 
inently  legislating  for  the  good  of  their  class,  always  di 
viding  the  state,  the  nation,  in  various  antagonistic  and 
violently  opposed  interests.  Egotism  has  been  the  moving 
soul  of  monarchies  as  well  as  of  oligarchic  and  aristocratic 
communities.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  dark  spots,  the 
true  or  artificially  projected  shadows  on  democratic  commu 
nities,  their  political  nature  makes  it  impossible  to  enact 
exclusive  special  laws  for  one  part  of  the  population,  and 
directed  against  another.  Internal  disorders  and  even  in 
testine  wars  were  always  provoked  by  aristocracies,  whose 
haughty  unprincipled  members,  always  ready  to  violate 
the  laws,  to  show  their  contempt  for  existing  power,  to 
tread  down  public  and  private  morality,  studiously  invoked 
popular  animadversion.  Such  was  the  case  in  Athens  and 
Greece,  such  was  the  case  in  Rome.  Whatever  could  hu 
miliate  or  exasperate  the  people,  was  always  perpetrated 
by  the  patricians,  by  the  Tarquins,  as  well  as  by  a  son  or 
grandson  of  Cincinnatus.  Sylla,  not  Marius,  provoked 
domestic  war.  The  same  was  the  case  in  the  Italian  re 
publics  ;  so  in  France  with  the  jeunesse  doree.  In  pri 
vate  as  well  as  in  public  matters,  offence,  provocation,  open 
or  surreptitious  contempt  or  violation  of  general  laws,  have 
nearly  always  been  perpetrated  by  aristocracies. 

It  is  generally  asserted  that  all  democracies  have  a  pe 
culiar  tendency  to  identify  themselves  with  a  single  indi 
vidual,  and  thus  to  become  tools  in  the  hands  of  ambitious 
schemers  and  intriguers.  This  is  considered  as  one  of  the 
most  dangerous  breakers  for  the  existence  of  democratic 
states  or  communities.  True  it  is  that  to  a  certain  degree 
history  justifies  these  assertions.  The  few  democracies 
which  have  appeared  on  the  horizon,  have  been  always 
headed  by  one  man,  instead  of  acting  self-consciously.  But 


110  AMERICA    AND    EUKOPE. 

in  substance,  not  even  the  thus  movable  democracy  of 
Athens  submitted  "wholly  to  the  leadership  of  Pericles, 
one  among  the  greatest  and  purest  patriots  and  statesmen 
on  the  records  of  our  race.  Besides,  the  origin,  as  well 
as  the  character  of  the  few  democracies  of  the  past,  have 
been  such  as  to  lead  necessarily  to  such-like  personifica 
tions.  Born  from  internal  tempests,  generally  with  the  help 
of  some  prominent  individual,  their  existence  was  continu 
ally  tempestuous.  A  single  spot,  a  single  city,  agglome 
rated  the  whole  democratic  element ;  there  was  the  centre 
of  the  system.  There  it  performed  its  functions,  always 
in  the  public  place.  Attacked,  teased,  or  exasperated  by 
the  lawlessness,  the  taunts,  the  uninterrupted  opposition 
of  the  aristocracy,  their  deadliest  enemies,  these  democra 
cies  of  the  past  were  nearly  always  in  a  feverish  state.  In 
a  perpetual  and  violent  struggle  for  existence,  it  was  diffi 
cult  to  reason  with  calmness,  to  consider  the  most  vital 
questions  in  all  their  relations.  Leaders  easily  got  hold  of 
a  people  who  felt  the  necessity  of  being  commanded,  for  the 
sake  of  resisting  an  external  enemy,  or  a  still  more  dan 
gerous  domestic  one.  There  was  no  public  press  to  bring 
important  topics  under  debate,  to  enlighten  and  cool  the 
judgment  of  the  masses,  concerning  the  characters  and  the 
value  of  leading  personages.  In  modern  democracies, 
especially  in  that  of  France,  the  masses  of  the  people  form 
a  "  rudis  indigestaque  moles."  They  have  no  self-con 
sciousness,  no  distinct  comprehension  of  their  position,  of 
their  needs,  of  their  future.  For  this  reason,  they  submit 
to  be  headed  or  embodied  in  one,  whom  they  trust,  as 
knowing* their  feelings  and  their  wants.  They  require 
some  one  to  think  for  them,  to  act  in  their  behalf,  to  defend 
them  from  their  enemies.  The  masses  are  not  accustomed 
to  exercise  self-government,  this  most  important  comple 
tion  of  democracy.  As  was  the  case  with  Athens  and  the 


DEMOCRACY.  Ill 

other  ancient  democracies,  the  modern  democratic  attempts 
in  Europe  likewise  find  it  necessary  to  have  nurses  and 
tutors,  to  facilitate  the  first  steps  on  an  agitated  soil.  But 
the  American  democracy,  being  of  a  normal  and  natural 
self-growth,  exercising  its  functions  regularly,  covering  the 
whole  land,  and  not  concentrated  in  cities,  cannot  run  out 
into  an  individualization,  as  did  its  forerunners.  Already 
the  press'  forms  a  powerful  panacea  against  it.  In  one 
word,  none  of  the  conditions  which  in  other  democracies 
either  facilitated,  or  even  rendered  unavoidable  the  person 
ification  of  democracy  in  some  leader,  have  existed  in  the 
American  commonwealth.  Doubtless,  even  for  the  most 
regulated  action  based  on  the  concurrence  and  combination 
of  such  various  functions,  a  kind  of  head  is  imperatively 
necessary.  Such  a  standard-bearer — as  he  is  very  prop 
erly  named  in  America — serves  rather  to  rally  the  various 
scattering  forces,  but  is  neither  the  initiator  nor  the  leader. 
He  receives  inspiration,  impulse,  direction,  for  good  or 
bad,  from  those  grouped  around  him.  In  other  democra 
cies  the  ductile  masses  were  animated,  vivified,  electrified, 
or  stimulated  by  the  ideas,  and  still  more  by  the  personal 
forensic  influence,  by  the  voice  of  a  passionate  patriot,  or 
of  a  daring,  gifted,  but  mischief-brewing  politician.  So 
Pericles  or  Demosthenes  could  move  them  as  quickly  in 
a  moment  of  excitement,  as  could  an  Alcibiades.  Criti 
cism,  discussion,  on  the  broadest  scale,  are  the  cardinal 
substances  of  American  public  life,  and  hence  sham  he 
roes,  and  hero  worship  must  in  the  long  run  become  impos 
sible. 

Ingratitude  is  freely  ascribed  to  republics,  above  all  to 
democracies,  to  the  people.  The  American  common 
wealth  is  not  exempted  from  this  reproach.  But  in  the 
commonly  accepted  signification  of  gratitude  and  ingrati 
tude,  history  shows  that  monarchies  and  monarchs  are  no 


112  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

more  grateful  than  republics.  Moreover,  in  sound  philo 
sophical  criticism,  the  influence  of  individuals  on  the  des 
tinies  of  the  world  is  general,  and  accordingly  does  not 
preponderate,  as  is  commonly  believed  and  asserted,  on 
those  of  states  and  people.  The  great  majority  of  rulers, 
and  of  other  great  and  influential  men,  merely  co-operate 
in  a  movement,  which  would  have  probably  pursued  its 
pre-appointed  task  as  rapidly  and  as  completely  as  if  they 
had  never  existed.  Their  work  is  more  or  less  well  done, 
but  if  they  had  not  been  on  hand,  then  it  would  have  been 
carried  out  by  some  one  else.  A  few  prominent  men,  whose 
genius,  talent  and  energy  have  been  aided  by  fortune,  have 
been  able  perceptibly  to  accelerate  or  to  retard  the  progress 
of  events.  If,  for  instance,  Cesar  had  sided  with  the  pa 
tricians,  the  Roman  republic  would  have  lasted  until  his 
death.  Feudality  would  have  taken  deep  root,  would  have 
covered  Europe,  and  would  even  have  finally  organized 
society  without  Charlemange.  The  greatest  service  ren 
dered  by  Napoleon,  was  the  promulgation  of  the  Code, 
which  undoubtedly  wouldjiave  been  promulgated  by  some 
one  else.  The  principles  of  it  were  fixed  in  the  national 
life,  were  fructified  by  the  French  revolution.  Humanity 
generally  has  far  fewer  benefactors  among  great  historical 
individuals,  than  among  the  great  explorers  in  the  limit 
less  field  of  science,  among  the  men  who  tear  rrom  nature 
its  secrets,  who  unveil  the  scientific,  the  moral,  the  social 
laws. 

Generally  the  services  rendered  to  republics  are  re 
warded  according  to  prevailing  habits  and  notions,  besides 
that  the  individual  is  surrounded  spontaneously  by  respect 
and  gratitude.  Rare  are  the  examples  to  the  contrary. 
The  example  of  Miltiades  is  held  up  as  a  reproach  to  the 
Athenian  demos.  But  Miltiades,  divinized  as  the  victor 
over  the  Persians,  was  punished  because  his  subsequent  life 


DEMOCRACY.  113 

and  actions  were  such  as  endangered  and  offended  his  fel 
low-citizens.  Past  good  actions  do  not  compensate  for  new 
mischief-brewing  ones.  The  ostracism  of  Aristides  stands 
there  alone  without  justification.  Glory  crowns  the  heroes 
in  the  end,  whatever  may  have  been  the  conduct  of  citizens 
and  contemporaries,  and  unfrequent  are  the  cases  of  decided 
and  direct  injustice.  Society  gravitates  more  and  more 
towards  a  state,  where  heroes  and  benefactors  will  be  use 
less.  At  the  utmost,  their  task,  their  mission  has  been 
needed  in  primitiv'e,  unsettled  societies ;  as  soon  as  the 
movement  becomes  regulated,  and  society  settled  on  a  firm 
basis,  the  time  of  heroes  passes  away. 

The  obligations  between  those  who  render  the  so-called 
services,  and  the  served,  are  wholly  reciprocal.  The  one 
is  scarcely  more  bound  by  it  than  the  other ;  and  a  man  who 
in  any  way  serves  his  country  fulfils  only  his  duty  towards 
the  community.  The  country  proffers  and  procures  to 
him  occasion  and  space  to  unfold  his  qualities  and  ca 
pacities,  to  give  them  higher  scope  and  full  play,  to  riso 
over  others,  to  win  name  and  consideration.  Without 
this  pedestal,  this  space,  the  greatest  names  which  resound 
through  centuries  would  never  have  emerged  from  nothing 
ness.  Even  the  great  and  justly  revered  name  of  Wash 
ington,  would  not  have  acquired  the  eternal  glory  which 
surrounds  it  without  the  revolution,  without  the  sufferings, 
the  sacrifices  borne  by  the  people.  Without  this,  Wash 
ington  would  have  disappeared  in  the  smooth  current  of 
common,  daily  life. 

The  American  commonwealth  or  people  is  upbraided 
by  foreign  and  domestic  political  sentimentalists  for  not 
electing  its  most  eminent  men  to  the  presidency.  Such 
an  election  is  considered  as  the  last  aim  of  an  honorable 
and  legitimate  ambition,  and  as  a  gift  always  at  the  dis 
posal  of  the  people,  for  the  crowning  recompense  of  a 


114:  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

faithful  servant  by  the  highest  civic  distinction.  It  is, 
however,  not  intrinsically  the  fault  of  the  people  at  large, 
if  such  men  are  not  elected,  but  it  results  rather  from  cer 
tain  complicated  wheelworks  in  the  process  of  election,  by. 
whose  handling  and  shifting,  in  each  political  party,  emi 
nent  men,  out  of  jealousy,  neutralize  and  defeat  each  other. 
The  organization  of  parties  often  acts  on  and  overpowers 
the  will,  the  better  impulse  of  the  masses.  Further,  the 
succession  of  mediocrities,  heading  the  governmental  ma 
chinery  of  the  United  States,  has  served  to  prove  em 
phatically  the  perfection  of  the  system,  which  can  easily 
be  overlooked,  directed  and  taken  care  of,  even  by  the 
most  inferior  mediocrities.  Truly,  it  is  neither  a  rotten 
nor  a  faulty  system  which  resisted,  and  was  not  broken  or 
disordered  in  the  hands  of  a  Pierce,  the  lowest  in  the  lad 
der  of  thorough  incapacities. 

After  all,  the  presidential  dignity  ought  not  to  be  con 
sidered  as  a  reward  to  be  bestowed  by  the  people  for  cer 
tain  past  services  rendered  to  the  commonwealth.  There 
is  no  reason  why  a  generaJhsuccessful  on  battle-fields,  should 
be  equally  fit  to  direct  the  governmental  machinery.  The 
example  of  Jackson  cannot  establish  a  law.  The  great 
leaders  of  political  parties,  who  for  years  in  speeches,  par 
liamentary  and  stump  debates,  move,  excite  and  carry  with 
them  the  public  opinion  ;  those  men  necessarily  acquire 
certain  habits  of  mind,  contract  certain  passionate,  impe 
rious  dispositions,  which  unfit  them  for  the  methodical  and 
regular  functions  of  national  affairs.  In  extraordinary 
emergencies,  an  iron  will,  based  on  pure  convictions,  might 
be  necessary  at  the  head  of  the  national  chariot.  But  in 
the  normal  ordinary  current  of  affairs,  such  so-called  emi 
nent  men  might  become,  if  not  dangerous,  at  least  inju 
rious,  as  very  likely  for  the  love  of  glory  and  immortality, 
or  by  concert,  they  would  be  bent  on  carrying  out  their 


DEMOCRACY.  115 

special  whims  or  conceptions,  despite  the  exigencies  of  the 
moment,  or  contrary  to  the  real  interests  of  the  nation. 
Honesty,  strong  common  sense,  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
principles  on  which  reposes  the  governmental  structure, 
are  the  cardinal  needs  in  a  president  for  ordinary  times. 
Institutions  of  the  nature,  character  and  composition  of 
those  of  the  American  republic,  can  only  prosper  and  op 
erate  orderly  in  normal  conditions.  Not  by  jerks  and 
shocks,  not  among  extraordinary  combinations,  not  in  the 
heated  atmosphere  of  passion,  can  the  American  institutions 
unfold  and  blossom.  Reason,  calmness,  regularity,  fore 
thought,  and  the  equitable  adjustment  of  various  seemingly 
antagonistic  interests,  form  the  prominent  conditions  for 
the  prosperous  and  healthy  working  of  the  American  body 
politic.  Such  conditions  can  only  be  secured  in  normal, 
undisturbed  times,  in  an  air  not  charged  with  inflammable 
or  explosive  gases.  And  it  is  not  such  a  serene  atmos 
phere  which  propitiates  the  growth,  or  evokes  to  action 
those  personages,  whom  history  usually  loves  to  surround 
with  the  halo  of  greatness. 

The  enemies  of  American  democracy  throw  at  its  head 
the  disorders  occasionally  perpetrated  by  unruly  mobs, 
and  attempt  therefrom  to  infer  that,  loosening  the  strong 
iron  bridle  of  Ihe  government,  democracy  unavoidably 
generates  violence  and  lawlessness.  Such  disorders  occur 
principally,  if  not  exclusively  in  large  cities,  those  recep 
tacles  and  shelters  of  the  most  degraded  characters.  The 
immense  majority  of  such  tumultuous  agglomerations,  is 
composed  of  individuals  who  never  received  a  genuine 
democratic  training  and  education,  who  have  not  grown 
and  lived  in  a  genuine  democratic  atmosphere.  This  mov 
ing  population  is  composed  of  discordant  and  heteroge 
neous  elements,  poured  out  from  the  old  world,  destitute 
of  any  notion  of  right  and  self-control,  but  always  accus- 


\ 
116  AMEKICA   AND   EUKOPE. 

tomed  to  feel  over  them  the  heavy  hand  of  governmental 
police.  For  them  liberty  is  not  order  and  harmony,  not 
an  association  and  deliberate  submission  to  established  and 
equal  laws  ;  but  a  struggle  with  existing  society.  Those 
men  were  born  and  brought  up  in  conditions  in  which  law 
and  right  were  synonymous  in  meaning  and  in  application 
with  injustice,  oppression  and  exactions ;  and  they  cannot 
at  once  comprehend  the  difference  which  prevails  here. 
Democratic  America  absorbs  uninterruptedly  masses  of 
human  beings,  who  are  destitute  of  any  feeling,  or  spark 
of  manhood ;  without  any  comprehension  of  mutual  rela 
tions  of  duties  and  rights.  Morally  and  physically  de 
pressed,  embruted,  they  must  be  washed,  cleansed  in  body 
and  mind,  and  restored  to  humanity.  Their  moral  and 
social  education  is  to  be  begun  and  completed.  The  scales 
must  be  torn  from  their  mind's  eyes.  They  must  see  and 
learn  that  freedom  and  equality  are  not  an  opposition  to 
oppression,  but  a  normal,  healthy,  social  condition.  They 
are  to  learn  and  to  experience  that  true,  genuine  democ 
racy  is  not  a  battering  ram  to  crush,  and  destroy,  but  a 
constructive  and  cementing  element.  They  are  to  com 
prehend  that  the  consciousness,  the  assertion  of  individu 
ality  does  not  consist  in  encroaching  in  any  way  on  that 
of  another,  but  in  peacefully  combining  both,  for  the  real 
ization  of  social,  orderly  aims.  For  men  who  never  had 
a  true  mastership  over  their  persons,  nor  over  their  no 
tions,  the  first  steps  on  such  a  path  arc  often  difficult ;  the 
way  of  progress  remains  for  a  long  time  unintelligible. 
For  the  first  time  they  become  seemingly  uncontrolled 
masters,  and  their  time,  their  labor  are  enjoyments  un 
known  to  them  in  Europe.  What  wonder  if  persons  like 
these,  so  .long  unmanned,  violently  abuse  the  blessings  be 
stowed  upon  them  by  American  democracy  ? 

In  free  action  alone,  man  acquires  the  consciousness  of 


DEMOCRACY.  117 

his  inborn  dignity,  of  his  elevated  destinies,  of  his  moral 
manhood.  Democracy  alone  can  secure  to  him  this  con 
dition  of  his  higher,  purer  life.  In  free  action,  man  re 
cognizes  that  he  has  inward  powers  and  various  resources. 
Here  man  becomes  unfettered  mentally  and  physically. 
Large  numbers,  nay  millions,  doomed  to  servitude,  to  ig 
norance,  to  darkness,  become  redeemed.  This  process  of 
social  purification  and  of  the  inoculation  of  manhood,  is 
unprecedented  in  the  world's  history.  It  is  a  special  and 
constituent  element  of  American  democracy,  and  marks 
its  superiority  over  the  republics  of  the  past  and  of  the 
modern  world. 

Hitherto  democracies  have  been  shortlived,  and  there 
are  not  wanting  prophets  who  forebode  a  like  fate  to  the 
American  republic.  But  all  other  democracies  were  born 
and  lived  in  abnormal  conditions.  All  of  them  had  a 
powerful  enemy  inside,  gnawing  at  the  root.  This  was 
the  aristocracy,  always  and  every  where  pre-existent  to 
democracy.  The  reverse  has  been  the  case  in  this  country. 
The  American  commonwealth  cannot  therefore  run  out 
into  aristocratical  institutions,  become  cramped  with  aris- 
tocratical  governmental  forms,  and  see  a  genuine,  powerful 
aristocracy  emerge  from  the  actual  social  organism.  Never 
were  aristocracies  begotten  by  democracies.  It  is  an  im 
possibility,  historical  as  well  as  logical.  Aristocracy  has 
for  its  source  and  foundation  the  originally  uncontested 
possession  of  power ;  she  fills  the  space,,  possesses  the  soil, 
the  land,  the  localities.  All  those  advantages,  acquired 
beforehand  by  conquest,  or  pre-occupancy,  have  received 
the  consecration  of  time  and  usage.  Aristocracy  must  be 
built  up  simultaneously  with  the  first  boundaries  of  states, 
or  with  the  first  tracing  out  of  cities.  Those  who  with 
Romulus  dug  the  earth  for  the  first  walls  on  the  Latin  hills, 
were  the  founders  of  Rome,  were  the  kernel  of  the  Ro- 


118  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

man  patriciate.  Those  who  first  took  possession  and  made 
their  abode  in  the  Venetian  lagunes,  laid  the  corner-stones 
of  the  Venetian  aristocracy.  No  aristocracy  was  engen 
dered  in  America,  either  by  the  possession  of  power,  or  on 
battle-fields,  or  by  the  primitive  erection  of  cabins,  log 
houses,  and  villages.  Now  it  is  too  late.  Wealth  alone  is 
not  the  source  of  a  powerful  political  aristocracy.  The  pos 
session  of  hereditary  power,  the  possession  of  land,  secured 
by  exemption  and  privilege,  by  law  as  well  as  by  usage, 
are  the  vital  conditions  of  aristocracy.  In  America,  laws 
as  well  as  customs,  convictions  as  well  as  habits,  do  not  fa 
vor  or  procure  a  single  particle  of  nutriment  for  an  aris 
tocracy.  There  is  no  solidity  in  the  soil,  no  stability  in 
the  power  of  wealth.  All  is  moving  on  sand,  wherein  will 
be  always  engulfed  any  attempted  aristocratic  structure. 
No  dykes  can  arrest  the  rapid  democratic  current,  which' 
undermines,  dissolves  and  carries  away  whatever  may  be 
thrown  into  it,  for  the  sake  of  obstructing  its  course. 
Should  there  be  the  seeds  and  embryonic  elements — which 
in  reality  is  not  the  casQc*-for  such  an  excrescence,  they 
will  be  destroyed,  dissolved  before  taking  root,  before  be 
ing  able  to  give  signs  of  existence.  Nowhere  could  be 
found  even  the  rudiments  for  such  a  structure,  aristocracy 
being  antagonistic  to  the  institutions,  the  notions,  the  feel 
ings  of  the  immense  majority,  nay  even  to  the  habits  of 
life  of  those  who  attempt  to  play  that  childish  and  ridicu 
lous  game.  Aristocracies  must  be  created  by  primordial 
events.  Aristocrats  must  be  born  with  faith  in  their  pre 
destined  superiority.  Aristocrats  cannot  be  formed  from 
one  day  to  another  by  grants  and  parchments.  They  must 
be  born  to  command,  to  assert  their  right  as  rulers,  over 
arch  the  state,  and  the  people  underneath  must  be  so  de 
graded  as  to  believe  that  they  are  born  to  crawl  and  obey. 
Nothing  of  this  kind  has  existed  here,  and  such  relations 


•"          DEMOCRACY.  119 

and  conditions  can  neither  be  reproduced  nor  created.  It 
can  be  said  that  God's  omnipotence  -would  be  insufficient 
to  give  the  sanction  of  the  dust  of  time,  wherein  consists 
the  true  value  of  aristocracy.  God's  omnipotence  could 
not  now  create  in  America  such  a  social  and  political,  priv 
ileged,  all-powerful  body.  There  appear  on  the  surface, 
here  and  there,  bubbles,  which  short-sighted  observers 
consider  as  atoms,  wherefrom  in  future  an  aristocracy  is 
to  aggregate.  But  these  transient  sham  existences  have 
no  substance  whatever,  no  hold  upon  the  people,  no  influ 
ence  upon  the  run  of  affairs  ;  their  existence  is  more  fac 
titious  and  shorter  than  that  of  those  brilliant  insects, 
whom  one  summer  day  sees  appear,  flutter  and  die.  Those 
aristocracies  which  ruled,  oppressed,  betrayed  and  de 
stroyed  states  and  republics,  were  not  the  creations  of  par 
lors,  drawing-rooms,  and  church  pews.  Before  they  re 
moved  into  castles  and  palaces,  they  literally  put  the  hand 
to  the  erection  of  cities  and  empires.  But  no  power  what 
ever,  no  combination  of  events  can  be  imagined  that  is 
able  to  carve  out  aristocracy  from  the  American  social  and 
political  conditions.  Whatever  therefore  may  be  the 
breakers  ahead,  or  which  surround  democracy  here,  aristoc 
racies  cannot  be  counted  amongst  them. 

Anarchy,  dissolution  and  the  consequent  despotism  of 
an  individual,  are  pointed  out  as  the  necessary  terms  of 
popular  governments.  Rome  ended  in  this  manner.  Not 
the  plebeians,  however,  but  the  patricians,  were  the  most 
demoralized  and  dissolute,  and  their  factious  combinations 
rendered  the  further  existence  of  the  republic  impossible. 
The  Greek  republics,  whatever  might  have  been  the  in 
ternal  anarchy  which  distracted  them,  did  not  die  in  do 
mestic  discords.  No  Athenian,  Spartan,  or  Theban  despot 
seized  the  power  and  overthrew  the  republics.  Philip  of 
Macedon  was  a  foreign  conqueror.  The  Roman  republic 


120  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

excepted,  almost  all  others  succumbed  to  foreign  conquest, 
and  not — as  the  enemies  of  popular  power  assert — to  do 
mestic  anarchy.  Florence  was  overpowered  by  the  pope 
and  the  emperor.  The  ambition  of  the  Medici  and  of 
other  nobles,  and  the  hatred  of  a  popular  form  by  Charles 
V.,  sealed  the  doom  of  the  democracy  and  freedom.  Hol 
land,  Genoa,  Venice,  albeit  not  one  of  them  was  consti 
tuted  by  democratic  elements,  ceased  to  exist  by  subjec 
tion  to  a  foreign  conqueror.  Not  their  domestic  dissen 
sions,  but  the  overwhelming  power  of  France,  facilitated 
the  conquest.  The  American  commonwealth  has  no  such 
conquering  neighbor,  and  never  can  such  a  one  exist.  No 
European  power  could  in  any  circumstances  whatever,  in 
the  most  distant  future,  dream  or  attempt  the  conquest  of 
America,  even  if  an  intestine  war  should  rage  on  her  soil. 
Such  speculations  o'n  improbable  probabilities,  are  beyond 
the  limits  of  sound  reasoning,  beyond  the  deductions  au 
thorized  by  common  sense. 

A  domestic  despot,  a  Caesar  or  a  Napoleon  might 
emerge,  and  put  an  end^to  the  democracy,  to  the  Ameri 
can  republic.  Such  are  the  forebodings  of  those  who,  from 
one  or  two  historical  facts,  deduce  an  absolute  doctrine  for 
all  times  and  for  all  nations.  But  they  forget  the  abso 
lute  dissimilarity  existing  in  the  constitutive  elements  and 
principles,  in  the  organism  of  the  government,  in  its  offi 
cial  functions,  in  the  political  habits  and  customs,  in  the 
character  of  the  people  of  Rome,  France,  and  of  the  Uni 
ted  States.  In  both  cases  the  political  and  governmental 
centralization  facilitated  the  work.  Rome  and  Paris  were 
the  head,  the  heart  of  the  two  republics.  Any  one  who 
seized  the  power  there,  paralyzed  the  nation.  The  people, 
accustomed  to  receive  impulse  and  direction  from  those 
centres,  opposed  a  doubtful  resistance,  if  any,  to  the  new 
and  violently  established  power.  Caesar,  Octavius,  in  se- 


DEMOCKACY.  121 

curing  Rome,  had  already  a  powerful  prestige  in  their  fa 
vor,  secured  a  pivot,  a  centre,  when  their  enemies,  on  the 
contrary,  were  wandering  about  the  earth,  dispirited  and 
scattered.  In  France  the  possession  of  the  capital,  with 
all  its  centralized,  political  and  administrative  powers, 
together  with  the  command  of  the  army,  secures  by  a  sin 
gle  well-aimed  blow  any  political  change.  The  people, 
the  nation  is  beheaded  or  stabbed  in  the  heart  in  Paris, 
and  submit  more  or  less  reluctantly  to  their  fate.  The 
same  is  and  will  be  nearly  always  the  case  with  all  other 
European  states.  Every  where,  even  in  England,  feeble 
as  it  is,  centralization  deprives  the  rest  of  the  nation  of  the 
energy  necessary  to  resist  any  usurper  of  the  supreme 
power.  In  America  every  such  move  and  attempt  will 
meet  insurmountable  political,  social,  governmental  and 
geographical  hindrances. 

It  can  be  said,  that  time  and  space  will  be  against 
such  a  usurper.  The  American  commonwealth,  it  can  be 
said,  has  comparatively  no  standing  army.  Should  a  kind 
of  anarchy,  precursory  to  despotism  and  usurpation,  con 
tribute  to  give  force  and  consistency  to  a  military  power,  a 
military  leader  could  never  acquire  the  same  influence  over 
the  minds  and  the  devotion  of  the  soldiery,  that  was  pos 
sessed  by  the  military  chiefs  of  the  ancient  and  European 
world.  The  elements  of  which  such  an  army  could  be  com 
posed  here,  must  be  perfectly  different  from  those  of  the  old 
nations.  The  men  who  might  enlist  under  this  banner, 
originally  independent  citizens,  would  always  have  within 
them  a  moral  repulsion,  an  undisciplined  spirit,  which 
must  oppose  the  absolute  will  of  the  leader.  Armies 
identify  themselves  with  their  captains  by  long  years  of 
warfare,  by  the  recollections  of  conquest,  glory,  and  of 
hardships.  But  here  no  such  conquest,  no  such  recollec 
tions  can  render  possible  this  incarnation  of  the  spirit  of 
6 


122  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

the  chief  in  the  whole  army.  All  the  European  states, 
monarchies  as  well  as  republics,  Rome  or  France,  even  of 
1794  or  1799,  have  been  essentially  and  traditionally  for 
centuries,  a  kind  of  military  and  militant  societies.  The 
American  republics  have  not  this  character  ;  it  is  not  en 
grafted  in  the  institutions,  in  the  spirit  of  the  people,  and 
never  can  be.  The  man  of  the  people,  the  masses  will 
fight  themselves,  but  will  not  submit  to  have  armies  of 
hirelings. 

But  admitting  even  at  the  worst  that  such  an  army 
could  exist  with  an  ambitious  leader,  having  in  him  the 
stuff  for  a  traitor  to  liberty.  He  seizes  upon  the  capital,  as 
is  Washington,  he  corrupts  the  members  of  Congress,  and 
brings  them  over  to  his  side,  or  seizes,  imprisons  and  dis 
perses  them.  In  either  of  these  cases,  having  possession 
of  the  capital,  he  has  only  in  his  hands  a  city,  wherefroin 
no  threads  or  administrative  nets  extend  over  the  country. 
Having  in  his  hand  the  members  of  Congress,  he  will 
have  some  individuals  only,  but  not  personages,  whose  de 
cisions  or  doom  could  in  a"ny  way  influence  and  seal  that  of 
the  various  States.  Each  state,  each  district,  nay  nearly 
each  township  and  village  must  have  been  filled  with  par 
tisans  of  the  usurper,  must  have  been  separately  and  lit 
erally  conquered.  The  independent  self-government  of 
states,  the  self-government  of  the  people  must  have  been 
eradicated,  abolished  previous  to  the  establishment  of 
the  power  of  an  usurper.  From  Washington,  or  any 
other  like  centre,  no  strong  governmental  rays  could 
carry  his  biddings,  and  find  or  enforce  submission  to 
them.  Such  an  administrative  current  of  electricity  does 
not  exist  in  America,  and  the  utmost  anarchy  is  the  last 
way  to  create  and  foster  it.  Each  separate  state,  with  its 
well-ordered  administrative  and  legislative  wheelworks, 
will  at  once  oppose  without  effort  the  acts  of  the  usurper, 


DEMOCRACY.  123 

or  those  of  a  Congress  siding  with  him.  Parliamentary 
omnipotence  is  not  among  the  recognized  principles  of  the 
constitution  of  the  American  political  structure,  and  still 
less  is  it  ingrained  in  the  notions  or  habits  of  the  people. 

In  Rome,  as  in  France,  there  prevailed  and  still  prevails 
an  inborn  subserviency,  a  mental  and  political  servitude 
in  the  provinces,  the  country,  in  their  relations  with  the 
capital.  The  European  capitals  are  in  reality  not  only 
administrative  and  governmental  centres,  but  the  great 
and  almost  exclusive  foci  of  light,  and  the  dispensers  of 
culture  for  the  whole  nation.  Thus  it  is  natural  that  the 
people  should  follow  whatever  impulse  comes  therefrom. 
But  the  capital  of  the  American  federation  is  not  such  a 
centre  for  mental  culture,  or  for  administrative  power. 
To  facilitate  the  work  of  usurpation,  it  would  be  neces 
sary  that  an  extensive  conspiracy  should  extend  its  meshes 
over  the  whole  country,  entangling  not  only  individuals, 
but  the  temporary  holders  of  the  administrative  power. 
Such  a  supposition,  impossible  in  itself,  could  not  even 
then  advance  the  work,  the  aim  of  an  usurper.  The 
threads  would  break  on  account  of  their  extension.  In 
one  word,  considered  from  whatever  point  of  view,  the 
usurpation  of  power  by  one — according  to  the  occurrences 
and  the  experience  of  past  times — has  no  tools  to  work 
for  it  here,  no  chances  in  the  existing  facts  and  in  the  ma 
terial  means,  and  can  obtain  no  possible  hold  of  the  country 
over  the  minds  of  the  people.  A  wholly  new  combination  of 
moral  and  material  events  would  be  necessary  to  facilitate 
the  course,  and  bring  forth  an  usurpation.  A  protracted 
intestine  war,  destroying  the  prosperity,  the  institutions  of 
the  country,  destroying  whole  generations,  and  breeding  in 
their,place  new  ones,  embruted,  debased,  wholly  disconnected 
with  the  spirit,  with  the  notions  of  the  past ;  such  is  the  only 
possible  way  to  prepare  and  accomplish  the  overthrow  of  the 


124:  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

republic.  By  such  a  war  alone  the  path  for  an  usurper 
could  be  cleared.  Such  a  fearful  combination  of  events 
lies  beyond  human  forethought,  beyond  logical  probability. 
It  would  be  the  victory  of  evil  over  good,  of  the  spirit  of 
darkness  over  light.  Such  an  event,  if  evoked  at  all, 
would  be  not  the  work,  not  the  result  of  the  democracy, 
but  that  of  the  most  hideous  and  treacherous  aristocracy 
that  ever  darkened  and  blotted  the  pages  of  history,  or 
endangered  the  free  and  normal  onward  march  of  society. 
The  poison,  the  anarchy,  the  curse  of  America  is  in  the 
slavery-breeding,  slavery-sustaining  States,  and  in  their 
accomplices  among  the  free  States. 

It  is  not  only  difficult  but  wholly  impossible  to  admit, 
that  a  people  like  that  of  the  American  free  communities, 
inheriting  for  generations  the  enjoyment  of  its  rights,  in  a 
fulness  unprecedented  in  history ;  that  such  a  people  could 
give  them  up  under  any  circumstances  and  combinations 
whatever.  No  European  people  ever  existed  in  the  same 
social  conditions,  or  possessed  an  equal  degree  of  culture 
and  of  political  independence,  and  thus  never  lost  what 
in  reality  it  did  not  possess.  Inferences  from  the  stages 
traversed  by  the  ancient  or  modern  European  nations 
and  governments,  can  in  no  manner  be  applied  to  Amer 
ica.  Here  every  individual  exercises  spontaneously  his 
judgment  and  his  powers,  and  thus  millions  of  free,  un 
trammelled  forces  are  at  work  for  the  well  comprehended 
individual  good,  and  therefore  for  the  public  good.  The 
democratic  development  of  America  realizes  what  in  Eu 
rope  was,  and  is  still,  considered  as  a  speculation  or  a  uto- 
pia.  It  shows  distinctly  that  humanity  henceforth  is  not  a 
word  but  a  reality,  a  force  in  constant  action.  It  shows 
that  the  fullest  and  brightest  manifestations  of  the  spirit 
which  animates  our  race  are  not  concentrated  in  the  few, 
and  that  the  destinies  of  masses  are  the  best  worked  out 


DEMOCRACY.  125 

by  themselves.  Such  a  state  of  society  cannot  run  into 
anarchy,  and  be  consumed  by  despotism.  "Where  a  people 
is  accustomed  to  watch  over  its  own  interests,  and  to  han 
dle  them  practically,  the  power  and  the  right  can  never 
be  wrested  out  of  its  hands. 

The  beginning,  the  origin,  the  growth,  the  develop 
ment  of  the  American  society  and  body  politic,  in  all 
their  cardinal  phases,  is  wholly  of  a  different  character 
from  those  of  other  nations  and  states,  as  well  as  re 
publics,  whether  oligarchical,  aristocratic,  or  democratic. 
Whatever  may  be  the  destinies  reserved  for  America, 
their  course  and  final  issue  must  unavoidably  differ  from 
those  catastrophes  which  marked  the  existence  and  the 
doom  of  other  states.  The  social  and  political  birth, 
growth,  and  progress  of  America  refute  all  the  established 
axioms,  that  are  deduced  from  the  history  of  pre-existing 
societies.  American  society  cannot  move  in  the  circle  to 
which  philosophers  have  hitherto  limited  the  destinies  of 
the  race.  "Whether  Hobbes  or  De  Maistre,  Bossuet  or 
Vico,  Herder,  Lessing,  Rousseau,  or  Haller,  Ballanche, 
Hegel,  or  Comte,  they  have  all  seen  only  this  circular  or 
bit,  and  assigned  to-  the  course  of  society  in  its  mental, 
moral,  and  political  march,  the  same  or  similar  phases  for 
the  future.  Authority  under  various  manifestations  or 
characters,  but  always  the  authority  of  one,  be  it  patri 
arch  or  king,  lawgiver  or  hierophant,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  starting  point,  and  whatever  forms  society  may  have 
successively  run  through  and  lived,  it  is  to  return  to  ab 
solute  or  modified,  but  always  to  a  superior  authority,  or 
by  decay  and  anarchy,  even  to  despotism.  American  so 
ciety,  the  American  nation  was  neither  engendered  nor 
brought  into  action  by  the  authority,  by  the  influence  of  a 
supreme  moral,  mental,  or  political  leader ;  it  is  the  off 
spring  of  a  principle.  Admitting  therefore  even  the  value 


126  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

of  the  established  axioms,  they  cannot  be  applied  to  Amer 
ica — and  she*is  not  to  run  out  into  monarchy,  anarchy,  and 
despotism.  •  Sociology,  with  all  its  various  theorems,  is  at 
fault,  and  America  does  not  adjust  itself  to  its  frames. 
All  societies  began  in  a  synthesis,  religious,  mental,  phi 
losophical,  as  well  as  in  a  social  or  political  unity  or  au 
thority  ;  and  after  traversing  various  phases  of  activity 
and  development,  they  run  out  into  the  epoch  of  analysis, 
subdivision,  research,  science,  and  criticism.  America,  re 
ligiously  or  philosophically  considered,  is  the  creation  of 
analysis,  and  accordingly  of  that  phasis  in  which  other  socie 
ties  have  terminated ;  politically  and  socially,  America  per 
sonifies  the  combination  of  free  individuality  with  associa 
tion,  in  a  self-conscious  democracy — a  combination  hith 
erto  unknown  in  the  history  of  nations.  The  problem  be 
fore  America  is  therefore  different  from  those  which  other 
societies  had  to  solve.  She  has  therefore  emphatically  to 
reconstruct  a  new  and  higher  synthesis,  out  of  the  nega 
tion,  criticism,  and  analysis,  which  generated  and  gave  her 
birth.  America,  it  may  bcfis  destined  to  lead  the  ascen 
sion  on  the  spiral,  and  by  her  example  relieve  society 
from  the  vicious  circle  in  which  it  has  hitherto  been  im 
prisoned.  And  as  in  the  dialectic  process,  a  lower,  infe 
rior  term  dissolves  in  one  of  a  higher  and  more  general 
order  ;  of  the  same  ascending  character  ought  to  be  the 
solutions  which  are  evolved  from  the  social  existence  and 
functions  of  a  genuine  democracy.  The  present  state  of 
America  is  considered  an  experimental  one.  Be  it  so. 
To  a  successful  experiment  succeeds  generalization. 


8ELF-GOVEENMENT.  127 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SELF-GO VEEN MENT. 

SELF-GOVERNMENT  is  the  absolute  and  necessary  comple 
ment  of  democracy.  Together  they  constitute  the  highest 
term  of  social  development  and  organization,  in  fellowship 
and  equality.  They  reciprocally  fulfil  the  ultimate  train 
ing  of  man  as  a  social  and  moral  being. 

Self-government,  as  conceived,  understood  and  real 
ized  in  America,  excludes  emphatically  a  priori,  and  an 
nihilates  that  notion  of  government  which  has  hitherto 
been  considered  as  among  the  cardinal  constitutive  ele 
ments,  as  well  as  cements  of  a  well-organized  and  well- 
developed  society.  Self-government  is  the  negation  of  au 
thority,  of  initiative,  of  direction  to  be  exercised  from 
above,  under  any  title  of  supremacy  based  on  grounds  as 
sumed,  artificial,  and  delusive.  Self-government  confirms 
the  emancipation  of  reason,  judgment,  and  will  in  the  in 
dividual,  from  subjection  to  any  kind  of  moral  and  physi 
cal  compulsion,  to  the  reason,  judgment  and  will  of  anoth 
er.  It  is  the  practical  consecration  and  realization  of  the 
indestructible  rights  of  man.  It  is  limited  only  by  vol 
untary  association,  with  the  aim  of  securing  the  general 
welfare  of  the  whole,  at  the  least  possible  sacrifice  of  in 
dividual  freedom. 


128  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

Authority,  as  the  founder  of  society,  and  its  consequent 
exclusive  intiatory,  directing,  or  governing  power,  was 
inherent  in  all  ancient  and  European  nations.  Even  the 
freest  among  them  always  recognized  in  some  conception, 
form  or  manifestation,  such  an  authority  lodged  above  the 
mass  of  the  people ;  authority  as  aristocracy,  patriarchate, 
etc.,  giving  a  moral  or  positive  legal  sanction  to  the  exer 
cise  by  the  people  of  political  rights,  incompletely  as  those 
rights  were  enjoyed.  Such  rights  were  wrested  out  or 
conceded.  Thus  the  idea  and  the  fact  of  the  existence 
of  a  supreme  authority  vested  in  one  or  several  individu 
als,  became  almost  indestructible.  The  partial  self-gov 
ernment  in  ancient  societies,  was  always  intermixed  in 
some  way  or  other  with  such  authoritative  interference 
from  above.  In  European  republics  there  were  always 
castes  or  classes,  guilds  or  corporations,  exercising  au 
thority  over  the  mass  of  the  population ;  of  which,  even 
in  those  republics,  only  a  small  part  enjoyed  political 
rights,  or  was  occasionally  consulted — but  did  not  decide 
• — about  the  internal  management  and  husbandry  of  do 
mestic  daily  concerns.  Communal  institutions  and  sub 
divisions,  as  partially  enjoyed  in  Italy,  Germany,  Spain  or 
France,  relating  to  administrative  objects,  always  acted 
under  the  sanction,  the  direction  of  a  distinct,  superior 
centralized  governmental  authority,  encircling  and  pene 
trating  society,  whatever  might  be  its  form  or  name.  In 
France  and  Germany,  the  mayors  of  the  communes  are 
nominated  by  the  government.  Absolute,  constitutional 
monarchy,  republic,  all  equally  as  states  and  governments, 
encircle  and  penetrate,  with  their  anaconda-like  folds,  the 
most  minute  .  and  distant  recesses  of  the  governed.  In 
England,  authority  from  above  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  con 
stitutional  liberties  and  institutions.  The  government 
concentrated  in  royalty  has  the  major  right  of  initiative, 


SELF- GOVERNMENT.  129 

of  direction,  and  interference,  has  the  creative  attribute. 
Out  of  the  three  elements  composing  the  political  society, 
two  of  them,  the  royalty  and  the  lords,  are  inborn,  supe 
rior  authorities  and  privileged  powers,  the  lords  being  the 
creation  of  royalty,  and  only  the  house  represents,  and  up 
to  this  time  represents  only  in  part — the  English  people. 
Thus  in.  this  tripartite  compound,  two  are  direct  negations 
of  self-government,  and  the  third  is  only  its  imperfect  as 
sertion.  Communal  institutions,  to  be  sure,  have  been  de 
veloped  for  centuries  in  England,  in  a  fulness  unknown  to 
the  European  continent.  But  they  do  not  repose  on  uni 
versality  of  rights  and  duties,  even  as  regards  the  admin 
istration  of  their  internal  concerns,  they  do  not  expand 
as  freely  in  all  directions,  as  in  America.  However 
slightly,  there  is  always  present  and  felt  the  action  of  a 
government  above  them,  a  centralization  overhauls  them. 
And  finally  in  the  functions  of  these  communal  institu 
tions  in  the  country,  if  not  in  cities,  there  is  always  felt 
the  moral  or  de  facto  influence  and  the  presence  of  a 
distinct  social  class.  The  nobility,  the  gentry,  the  squires 
personally  and  by  their  patronage,  exercise  a  direct  action 
on  the  smallest  commune. 

Centralization  is  an  unavoidable  corollary  of  a  power, 
which  is  exercised  by  an  authority  from  above.  Decen 
tralization  goes  hand  in  hand  with  all  the  evolutions  and 
ramifications  of  self-government.  The  European  popula 
tions  are  so  thoroughly  penetrated  and  imbued  with  deferen 
tial  respect  for  centralization,  they  have  been  so  thoroughly 
trained  and  drilled  for  ages  of  their  existence,  by  sover 
eign  authority,  acting  from  a  centre  in  all  directions ;  that 
whatever  might  be  the  transition  to  a  new  order,  they 
would  be  unable  to  go  through  the  one  or  enter  the  other, 
without  centralization  and  a  superior  direction.  The 
present  state  of  Europe  may  be  regarded  as  a  symptom  of  the 


130  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

epoch  of  an  exhausted  political  evolution.  A  higher  social 
order  is  to  succeed.  Such  inauguration  will  and  must  be 
prompted,  accomplished  by  the  ancient  governmental  pro 
cess,  by  an  action  from  above — and  not  by  a  spontaneous 
impulse  of  the  people. 

The  community,  composed  of  free  and  equal  men,  was 
the  fountain-head,  the  corner-stone  of  American  society. 
Self-government  lay  therefore  as  the  exclusive  kernel  of 
a  future  development.  The  township  was  the  primitive 
state  from  which  the  start  was  made.  The  township  there 
fore  still  remains  in  its  function,  the  generating  power, 
the  foundation,  the  nursery  of  self-government  and  of 
American  social  order.  On  the  self-government  of  town 
ships  reposes  the  freedom  of  the  state,  and  from  it  is  evolved 
in  wider  and  wider,  all-embracing  circles,  the  whole  exist 
ing  political  structure.  A  township  forms  in  itself  a  free 
and  independent  state,  perfectly  organized  for  all  purpo 
ses.  It  legislates  for  taxes  itself,  and  executes  its  own 
enactments,  without  any  interference  or  sanction  of  the 
so-called  general  governme^.  It  is  connected  with  simi 
lar  embryonic  states,  by  the  cement  of  the  law ;  is  amena 
ble  only  to  the  courts  of  justice,  and  these  laws  the  asso 
ciated  townships  frame  and  enact  by  legislatures,  repre 
senting  the  whole  people  moving  in  these  social  cradles. 

Although  originally  these  communal  habits  and  no 
tions  were  brought  here  by  the  settlers  from  the  mother 
country ;  events  and  new  conditions  gave  to  them  a  vigor 
ous  and  complete,  and  hence  almost  a  new  expansion. 
The  first  settlements  in  America,  and  especially  those  of 
New  England,  being  private  individual  undertakings,  were 
not  under  any  immediate  authoritative,  governmental  di 
rection.  The  first  colony  formed  a  community  of  equals, 
who  deliberated  upon  and  decided  all  necessary  ques 
tions  and  measures.  All  these  objects  were  of  more  vital 


SELF-GOVEKNMENT. 


131 


importance  for  the  new  colony  than  any  events  occurring 
in  the  mother  country.  Almost  daily  new  emergencies 
occurred,  and  the  topics  for  debate  and  decision  ac 
quired  more  significance.  Here  at  once  all  the  cares  of 
a  regularly  acting  government  devolved  upon  the  set 
tlers.  So  the  first  settlement  or  community  realized  at 
once  self-government  in  its  plenitude.  With  the  increase 
of  the  population,  new  townships  and  villages,  or  cities, 
were  raised  by  men  enjoying  equal  rights,  and  were  thus  in 
dependent  in  their  action  of  any  direction  or  submission  to 
any  superimposed  power,  which  might  have  been  invested 
in  any  privileged  locality,  in  an  individual,  or  in  a  corpo 
ration.  Thus  decentralization  grew  out  of  every  step  of 
the  extending  colony. 

Every  individual  participated  in  the  deliberation,  ap 
prentices  and  servants — the  last  few  in  number,  and  rarely 
met  with — excepted.  The  decisions  became  enacted  into 
obligatory  laws.  The  individuals  chosen  for  their  admin 
istration,  were  only  delegates  of  the  power,  which  resided 
originally  and  uninterruptedly  in  every  one  of  the  members 
of  the  community.  The  persons  elected  were  there  to  ful 
fil  not  their  own  will,  nor  that  of  any  superior  independ 
ent  authority  of  government ;  but  to  fulfil  the  will  of 
their  constituents,  the  people.  It  can  be  said  that  no 
other  human  society,  nation  or  state  has  had  a  similar  or 
igin.  This  constitutive  and  absolute  character  of  self- 
government  remained  unaltered.  It  was  the  main  spirit 
which  penetrated  the  whole  body  politic,  in  all  the  forma 
tions  of  separate  states,  and  which  now  prevails  in  the  po 
litical  union  of  these  distinct  and  independent  bodies. 

The  governors  of  the  colonies,  originally  named  by  the 
English  government,  served  as  a  kind  of  administrative 
link  between  the  two  countries,  but  had  no  power  to 
organize,  to  direct,  or  exercise  any  authoritative  and  inde- 


132  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE, 

pendent  supremacy.  Different  was  the  power  of  the  Ro 
man  proconsuls  and  governors,  and  of  those  who,  in  the 
name  of  European  monarchies  or  republics,  ruled  over  ci 
ties,  provinces,  districts  or  other  dependencies.  It  was 
almost  as  absolute  as  the  supreme  authority  which  dele 
gated  it.  The  governors  of  the  colonies  had  no  right  of 
initiative,  but  only  of  suggestion  to  the  deliberative  bodies, 
which  under  various  names  were  chosen  directly  by  the 
colonies.  The  governors  administered  and  executed  the 
laws  and  regulations  that  were  enacted  by  the  colonists. 
Thus  at  the  start,  even  in  the  colonial  state,  self-govern 
ment,  equality  and  decentralization  operated  in  America 
with  a  completeness  unknown  in  the  mother  country. 

The  minds  as  well  as  the  habits  of  the  Americans, 
were  thus  daily  schooled  in  the  art  of  self-government,  at 
every  step  in  their  social  life.  The  revolution,  the  con 
quest  of  independence  and  nationality  did  not  create  self- 
government,  but  only  gave  to  it  a  broader  sphere,  and 
pruned  away  certain  impediments  in  its  normal  function 
and  development.  Decentralization,  which  already  existed 
before  the  revolution,  was  no  hinderance  in  resisting  the 
aggressions  of  the  mother  country.  Not  the  example  of 
cities,  forming  capitals  and  centres,  as  is  the  case  in  Eu 
rope,  inflamed  and  drew  into  action  the  rest  of  the  coun 
try.  The  consciousness,  the  knowledge  of  political  rights 
animated  every  cottage,  plantation,  hut,  and  equally  in 
New  England  as  in  the  Carolinas,  inspired  every  individual 
to  resist  arbitrary  outrages.  Boston,  in  its  resistance  to 
stamp  and  tea  duties,  was  cheered  and  encouraged  by  the 
population  of  the  whole  State. 

Centralization  is  inherent  in  every  European  nation. 
All  England  in  case  of  emergency  will  look  to  London,  to 
the  omnipotent  parliament,  for  impulse  and  decision. 
America  has  not  now,  and  never  did  have  such  a  centre,  pre- 


SELF-GOVEKNMENT.  133 

vious  to  or  during  the  revolution.  Centralization  in  Eu 
rope  is,  however,  a  two-edged  sword.  If  it  concentrates 
in  the  hands  of  the  monarchs  an  immense  power  of  action 
and  defence,  it  facilitates  likewise  the  work  of  revolutions. 
If  the  revolution  succeeds  in  the  centre,  if  it  seizes  £he 
power,  then  as  a  general  rule  success  is  assured.  Any 
movements  on  the  circumference  will  always  prove  unsuc 
cessful.  The  people,  accustomed  to  being  directed,  governed, 
feels  no  power  of  initiative  within  itself,  but  is  always 
ready  to  receive  an  impulse.  In  one  word,  although  cen 
tralization  forms  the  safest  stronghold  of  despotism,  it  like 
wise  forms  the  most  efficient  battering-ram  for  its  destruc 
tion.  The  new  social  organizations  which  are  to  be  erected 
on  the  ruins  of  the  pre-existent  powers,  must  be  aided  in 
their  action  by  centralization,  using  authority  as  a  princi 
pal  cement  and  constitutive  element.  Self-government,  as 
it  operates  in  America,  could  not  be  inaugurated  at  pres 
ent  in  any  European  nation  whatever.  Difficult,  almost 
impossible  it  is  to  eradicate  what  ages  have  consecrated,  to 
change  the  current  of  ideas,  conceptions,  and  social  habits, 
which  have  changed  and  deteriorated  human  nature. 

Few  if  any  European  political  philosophers  or  social 
reformers  have  placed  self-government  and  decentralization 
at  the  bottom  of  their  theories.  Few  if  any  of  those  who 
make  the  institutions  of  this  country  the  special  object  of 
their  studies,  comprehend  to  what  an  extent  decentraliza 
tion  and  self-government  are  positive,  orderly  realities, 
forming  the  nutritive  elements,  as  well  as  the  nerves  and 
the  muscles  of  the  American  political  organization  and  ex 
istence. 

In  the  American  republics  the  constituted  powers,  em 
anating  directly  from  the  people,  remain  with  it,  and  no 
delegated  body  or  individual  is  in  any  way  fully  intrusted 
with  the  supreme  power.  The  people  never  divests  itself 


134  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

of  all  its  rights,  by  transferring  them  to  the  hands  of  its 
delegates,  under  whatever  name  those  delegates  may  act, 
according  to  the  commonly  adopted  theory  of  European 
representative  governments,  even  of  those  attempted  by 
republican  and  democratic  reformers. 

What  in  Europe  is  represented  and  acts  as  government, 
with  more  or  less  complete  attributes  of  direction,  author 
ity  and  initiative,  in  strict  construction  does  not  exist  at 
all  in  the  American  organism.  The  American  Union,  the 
American  States  are  not  governed,  but  only  administered 
in  the  same  way  as  every  township  and  village.  The 
elective  chief  of  the  State,  or  Governor,  and  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  are  only  chief  administrators.  Nei 
ther  the  Governor  of  a  State,  nor  the  President  of  the 
Union,  possesses  the  power  of  initiative.  He  executes  laws 
framed  by  the  legislative  bodies,  with  or  without  his  ad 
vice,  with  or  without  his  assent,  as  the  veto  opposed  by 
him  disappears  before  two-thirds  of  the  legislative  votes. 
The  executive  of  the  Unicn  watches  over  the  execution  of 
the  laws,  and  over  the  general  security  and  the  relations 
with  foreign  states  as  well. 

The  power  invested  in  Governors  or  in  the  President, 
of  vetoing  the  laws  enacted  by  the  legislative  bodies,  is 
derived  from  a  principle  wholly  at  variance  with  that  in 
which  it  is  exercised  by  a  monarch.  In  the  king  it  is  the 
last  echo  of  his  supreme  authority  deriving  from  above, 
from  God ;  it  is  the  remains  of  his  once  unlimited  power, 
of  his  function  as  the  fountain-head  of  right  and  law,  the 
dispenser  of  justice,  the  absolute  and  uncontrolled  ruler 
of  the  nation.  In  the  American  republics,  the  veto  is 
exercised  by  an  immediate  offshoot  of  the  people,  elected 
for  the  purpose  of  wielding  for  a  certain  period  the  power 
of  the  people,  and  as  the  expression  of  its  supreme  choice. 

The  checks  imposed  upon  the  principal  branch  of  the  ex- 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  135 

ecutive,  that  is,  the  Governor  of  a  State  or  the  President  of 
the  Union,  differ  in  their  nature,  origin  and  action  from  those 
which  surround  the  constitutional  powers  in  Europe.  Roy 
alty,  upper  and  lower  houses,  whatever  may  be  their  denom 
ination,  represent  different  and  antagonistic  social  elements 
and  social  interests.  They  derive  their  origin  either  from 
social  and  politic  excrescences,  or  from  fictions.  Royalty, 
upper  houses  or  senates  repose  on  privilege,  represent  indi 
vidual  interests,  which,  under  the  newly  created  name  of  con 
servatism,  are  to  act  in  opposition  to  the  rapid  and  all-em 
bracing  movement  and  interests  of  the  people  at  large.  As 
if  in  a  well-ordained  and  healthy  society  or  nation,  there 
could  or  ought  to  exist  certain  separated  interests,  directly 
opposing  the  interests,  the  well-being,  the  progress  of  the 
masses.  The  checks  imposed  upon  the  constituted  powers 
in  American  republics,  are  destined  to  arrest  the  abuse  of  the 
delegated  power  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  people.  All 
these  bodies  have  one  and  the  same  origin.  It  is  a  demo 
cratic  self-governing  people,  administering  its  general  or 
special  affairs  through  delegates.  The  President  of  the 
Union  and  one  of  the  houses  of  Congress  are  the  direct  ema 
nations  of  universal  suffrage.  The  Senate  is  not  a  corpo 
ration,  is  not  a  separated  body,  but  likewise  mediately  is 
sues  from  the  self-governing  people.  All  these  functions 
stand  there,  unprecedented  and  unequalled  in  the  political 
history  of  nations.  The  Senate  of  the  respective  States 
is  elected  by  the  people  on  the  same  principles  as  the 
House  of  Representatives,  only  by  larger  colleges  or  dis 
tricts.  The  Senate  of  the  United  States  is  neither  an  aris 
tocratic  nor  conservative  body.  The  Senate  represents  a 
higher  principle,  and  occupies  a  position  far  superior  to 
that  of  the  senators  of  Rome,  of  the  councils  of  Venice, 
of  the  houses  of  lords,  or  of  any  upper  houses  in  Euro 
pean  governments.  The  Roman  senators  represented  a 


136  AMERICA   AKD  EUROPE. 

social  class  and  caste,  represented  families,  but  not  the 
people,  and  not  the  whole  Roman  republic.  The  same  if 
the  case  with  all  hereditary  modern  constitutional  bodies 
The  Senate  of  the  United  States  represents  independent 
sovereignties,  watching  through  the  senators  over  those 
rights  which  the  people  of  the  sovereignties  give  up  par 
tially  for  the  sake  of  association  and  of  general  welfare 
It  is  a  position  far  more  elevated  than  that  of  the  patret 
conscripti,  or  of  modern  lords.  The  Senate  confirming  aL1 
the  principal  nominations  made  by  the  President,  for  va 
rious  offices,  shares  with  him  the  supreme  attributes  of 
sovereignty,  and  by  confirming  the  treaties  concluded  bj 
the  President  with  foreign  countries,  it  also  preserves  and 
represents  in  the  Union  the  supreme  sovereignty  of  each 
of  the  confederated  States. 

In  each  of  the  supreme  branches  administering  the 
separate  republics  and  the  Union,  there  is  always  omni 
present,  not  only  the  abstractly  recognized  sovereignty  of 
the  people — as  for  instance  in  England — but  the  self-gov 
erning  people  itself  through  its  delegates.  All  these  con 
stituted  powers  reflect  the  kernel  of  society,  the  internal 
organization  of  the  commune  or  of  the  township,  an  organi 
zation  widening  according  to  exigencies,  but  unchangeable 
in  its  nature.  This  fountain-head  of  the  political  organi 
zation  of  the  American  commonwealth,  seems  to  have  es 
caped  the  observation  of  European  writers ;  to  such  an 
extent  is  it  new,  unwonted,  contrary  to  all  received  and 
current  ideas. 

European  publicists  have  also  hitherto  generally  mis 
understood  the  character  of  the  Union,  and  the  nature  of 
the  power  of  the  President,  formations  opposite  to  all  past 
political  and  governmental  conceptions.  Events  combined 
with  the  generating  principle  of  American  society,  gave 
birth  to  these  political  organizations  and  subdivisions  of 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  137 

power,  all  of  which  bear  the  stamp  of  originality  and  self- 
creation.  These  institutions  emerged  from  the  American 
soil,  fructified  by  equality  and  liberty.  These  institu 
tions  alone  constitute  a  real  progress  of  the  human  race, 
while  all  the  European  constitutions  are  only,  under  va 
rious  forms,  consecrations  of  the  privileges  of  a  few, 
against  the  rights  of  the  many.  The  American  institutions 
have  no  precedents  in  history.  Not  to  Greece  or  Rome, 
not  to  England,  not  to  past  European  republics  can  we 
look  for  comparisons  and  for  a  measuring  scale.  The 
township,  the  State,  the  Union  have  nothing  in  common 
with  what  existed  in  the  past,  whose  authority  is  not  ap 
plicable  to  America. 

The  intrinsic  character  of  the  United  States  is  that 
of  an  aggregated  nation ;  in  its  existence  a  nation  com 
posed  out  of  a  triad,  never  previously  known  or  realized  in 
history,  namely,  the  separate  States,  the  whole  people,  and 
the  United  States.  The  third  is  the  last  born,  and  the  two 
first  are  its  generators.  The  United  States  have  no  abso 
lutely  imperative  conditions  of  existence,  but  only  those 
which  are  secondary,  incidental,  and  derivative.  The  Uni 
ted  States  emerged  out  of  the  concourse  of  events.  Pre 
vious  to  a  certain  positive  chronological  epoch,  as  the  end 
of  the  revolutionary  war — or  as  more  definitively  consti 
tuted  in  1789 — there  existed  no  such  complex  nation  as 
the  United  States.  They  were  formed,  together  with 
their  constitution,  for  certain  positive  ends.  The  ele 
ments  of  their  formation  were  the  concession  and  the 
abandonment  of  certain,  well-defined  and  specified  sover 
eign  rights,  inherent  in  the  individuals,  in  the  people  in 
general,  and  in  the  separate  States.  The  people,  as  so 
many  sovereign  individuals  or  units,  accepted  the  consti 
tution  which  gave  birth  to  the  United  States.  In  the  log 
ical  and  moral  development  of  the  principle  of  self-gov- 


138  AMEEICA  AND   EUROPE. 

ernment,  the  origin  of  power  and  the  spirit  animating  the 
constitution  therefore  reside  in  the  parents,  and  not  in 
their  offspring.  Certain  rights  not  conceded,  and  equally 
sovereign  in  their  nature  with  those  given  up  and  absorbed 
in  the  United  States,  for  the  sake  of  association,  remained 
with  the  people  and  with  each  State.  Those  State  rights 
consecrate  and  preserve  the  sovereign  right  of  the  people, 
and  are  the  surest  guarantee  of  independence,  the  firmest 
barrier  against  centralization,  that  deadliest  enemy  of  self- 
government.  They  are  thus  inherent  in  the  political  de 
velopment  of  America,  so  normal  in  their  nature  and  ac 
tion,  that  every  attempt  to  strengthen  the  central  or  fed 
eral  power  at  the  cost  of  State  rights,  and  the  consequent 
diminution  of  the  rights  of  the  people  have  failed,  as  an 
tagonistic  to  the  fundamental  principle,  and  therefore  il 
logical  and  inadmissible. 

The  Congress  can  only  legislate  upon  objects  distinctly 
defined  in  the  constitution,  but  not  upon  those,  by  far  more 
numerous  and  important,  which  the  people  of  each  sepa 
rate  State  has  reserved  for  itself.  The  Congress  can  in  no 
way  interfere  with  the  municipal  rights  of  States  and  lo 
calities.  The  Congress  has  no  parliamentary  omnipotence, 
like  the  parliament  of  England  and  the  legislative  bodies 
of  European  states,  modelled  on  English  constitutions. 
In  the  whole  of  this  political  and  federative  structure 
there  runs  a  broad  and  luminous  line,  which  marks  the 
difference  between  the  institutions  of  the  past  and  those 
of  the  American  commonwealth.  It  can  be  asserted  that 
if  Greece,  or  in  Christian  times,  if  the  cities  and  small 
republics  of  Italy,  among  others  the  cities  of  the  Lom 
bard  league,  could  have  realized  such  a  kind  of  associa 
tion,  based  on  logical  combination  and  compromise  of 
rights  and  interests,  Philip  and  Alexander  would  not  have 
disorganized  and  subdued  Greece,  and  Italy  would  have 


SELF-GO  VEKNMENT.  139 

been  centuries  ago  a  free  nation,  undesecrated  by  kings, 
popes  and  foreign  oppression. 

Jealousies  between  states  dug  the  grave  of  Greece  and 
Italy.  The  combination  which  produced  the  United 
States,  prevents  the  germination  of  similar  jealousies. 
No  one  special  state  is  the  head  and  the  leader,  but  all 
are  united  on  rights  and  prerogatives  equal  in  principle. 
No  one  state  exercises  any  special  supreme  power  or  in 
fluence,  as  did  Sparta,  Athens  and  Thebes,  or  for  acquiring 
which  contended  with  each  other,  the  Italian,  the  Lom 
bard  cities.  Jealousy  against  each  other  armed  Genoa, 
Pisa,  Sienna,  Florence.  And  again,  neither  Congress  nor 
the  President,  even  in  the  name  of  the  Union,  is  invested 
with  powers  and  rights,  which  lessen  or  endanger  those  of 
each  state.  Thus  the  President,  while  wielding  the  su 
preme  executive  power  of  the  collective  people,  has  no  offi 
cial  influence  over  the  executives  of  the  separate  States. 
Neither  has  Congress  any  right  to  legislate  for  the  internal 
affairs  of  the  States.  A  decentralization  of  powers  pre 
serves  the  general  independence.  The  President  is  the 
medium  through  which  foreign  countries  enter  into  legal  of 
ficial  intercourse  with  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  each 
single  State  having  given  up  this  right  of  intercourse.  The 
Swiss  republics,  although  confederated,  could  each  con 
tract  separate  treaties  with  foreign  powers,  as  can  be  done 
by  the  members  of  the  German  confederation. 

Except  the  cases  enumerated  in  the  fundamental  con 
stitution,  and  relating  to  rights  conceded  to  the  Union,  the 
central  power  wielded  in  the  name  of  the  whole  people, 
by  the  President  and  Congress,  does  not  press  as  such  on 
a  part  of  the  people,  who  form  a  separate  State.  So  the 
individuality  as  a  State  preserves  its  rights,  as  it  is  sacred 
in  every  member  of  the  community.  As  previous  to  the 
organization  of  the  Union,  the  people  and  the  respective 


140  AMERICA   AND    EUEOIM-:. 

States  exercised  full  attributes  of  sovereignty,  and  the  com- 
bined  mass  accordingly  could  never  press  on  a  part ;  so  afte  • 
the  construction  of  the  Union  the  parts  remained  protected 
against  the  abuse  of  an  undue  interference  of  a  combined 
majority. 

In  all  the  political  structures  existing  in  Europe,  ei 
ther  absolutist  or  constitutional,  there  is  recognized  a  su 
preme,  an  executive,  legislative  centre  and  authority 
Even  the  socialist  schools,  in  their  projects  and  theories 
uphold  the  idea  of  a  central  organizing  power,  absorbing- 
all  others,  and  legislating  for  all.  In  America  a  vital  dif 
ference  exists  between  the  purport  of  laws  enacted  by 
Congress,  and  their  bearing  on  the  immediate  social  con 
dition  of  the  people,  and  that  of  the  laws  enacted  b} 
special  State  legislatures.  The  laws  enacted  by  Congress 
are  general  in  their  bearing,  and  relate  only  to  certain 
general  governmental  administrative  questions,  as  well  as 
those  of  external  policy.  The  action  of  the  State  legisla 
tures  bears  directly  on  social  developments.  All  the 
questions  of  vital  importance  to  society,  all  the  radical  re 
forms  in  legislation,  jurisprudence,  those  connected  with 
domestic  life,  with  the  morals  of  the  people,  form  the  ex 
clusive  objects  of  State  legislatures.  Thus  slavery,  tem 
perance,  the  relations  and  the  state  of  property,  the  posi 
tion  and  relations,  the  rights  and  duties  of  the  family,  all 
the  great  principles  on  which  society  is  based,  are  all  in 
the  domain  of  State  legislatures.  Their  action  therefore 
is  the  mainspring  of  all  social  evolutions,  and  on  them 
really  depends  the  democratic  and  self-governing  progress, 
the  future  of  America.  The  State  legislatures  represent 
the  degree  of  the  morality  of  the  people,  as  they  represent 
the  immediate  needs,  tendencies,  and  culture  of  the  popula 
tions.  The  practical,  physical,  and  mental  necessities  and 
interests,  by  which  communities  act  and  develop  them- 


SELF-GOVEKNMENT.  141 

selves,  find  their  expression  and  satisfaction  in  these  legis 
latures.  Congress  deals  with  political,  the  State  legisla 
tures  with  radical  social  questions  and  solutions.  In  Eu 
rope  the  importance  and  the  influence  of  these  legislatures 
on  the  condition  of  American  progress  is  neither  under 
stood  nor  even  conjectured. 

Like  every  single  individual,  the  constituted  bodies, 
wielding  the  delegated  power  in  their  variously  complica 
ted  actions,  may  encroach  upon,  may  come  in  various  ways 
in  conflict  with  each  other.  It  is  therefore  of  supreme 
importance  to  observe  and  to  know  what  a  people — in  the 
almost  unbounded  exercise  of  its  individuality  and  rights 
— recognizes  and  fixes  as  limitations  on  the  reciprocal  en 
joyment  of  freedom.  These  rights  are  marked  out  and 
guaranteed,  and  the  manifold  private  and  political  rela 
tions  between  persons,  between  communities  and  the  State, 
as  well  as  between  the  separate  States  themselves,  are  de 
termined  and  put  under  an  efficient  safeguard.  It  was  and 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  for  a  society  founded  on  self- 
government,  to  secure  a  regular  untrammelled  action  in 
all  its  parts  and  branches,  to  secure  each  from  wilful  en 
croachments  and  violations.  All  the  powers  and  rights, 
those  inherent  in  each  individual,  as  well  as  those  delega 
ted  and  intrusted  for  the  advantage  of  the  association,  are 
to  be  so  regulated  and  controlled  that  one  cannot  expand 
at  the  cost  of  the  other.  The  nature  of  this  supreme 
controlling  authority,  its  moral  comprehension  and  its 
positive  action  and  interposition  in  society,  is  of  the  great 
est  significance  in  the  constitutive  organism  of  a  self-gov 
erning  people. 

In  ancient  societies  and  states,  the  people  in  the  forum 
or  in  comitias — or  oligarchical  and  aristocratical  councils, 
under  various  denominations,  but  with  supreme  attributes — 
royalty,  personally,  or  by  its  lieutenants — and  in  limited 


14:2  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

or  constitutional  monarchies,  the  omnipotent  parliament 
exercised  a  supreme  regulating  power  over  the  laws,  and 
over  social  guarantees,  as  well  as  over  the  rights  of  whole 
bodies,  and  over  individual  liberties.  If  not  in  the  high 
est  executive,  as  the  sovereign,  then  in  the  political  bo 
dies  was  invested  the  supreme  power.  In  America  thi* 
supremacy  is  intrusted  by  the  people  to  the  existing 
law,  and  to  the  judiciary  as  its  presumed  faithful  and 
conscientious  administrators.  The  supremacy  of  the  lav 
has  been  nowhere  recognized  to  such  an  extent  and  with 
such  a  plenitude  as  by  this  self-governing  people.  A  i 
every  step,  in  every  emergency,  in  every  collision,  pri 
vate  or  political,  in  every  action  of  single  individuals, 
communities  and  political  bodies,  of  legislative  and  ex 
ecutive  branches,  every  thing  is  subjected  absolutely  to 
the  law  and  to  its  decisions.  The  judicial  courts  in  many 
respects  are  paramount  to  all  other  constituted  and  ex 
isting  powers.  The  judiciary  decides  in  the  last  resort 
when  either  the  executive  of  the  Union  or  the  governmenl 
of  States  has  transcended*the  constitutional  limits,  and  de 
clares  all  such  proceedings  void.  Thus  the  judiciary  ar 
rests  the  arms  of  either  government,  when  it  would  over 
step  the  prescribed  boundaries,  and  encroach  upon  the 
precincts  of  another.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States  decides  disputes  between  the  various  powers  and 
States,  and  can  annul  any  law  of  Congress  by  declaring  its 
unconstitutionality.  A  similar  power  is  exercised  by  the 
supreme  courts  of  each  State  over  the  respective  legisla 
tures  and  administration.  All  matters  concerning  dis 
puted  jurisdiction  between  the  various  branches  of  the  ad 
ministration  are  decided  in  the  judicial  courts.  The  law 
is  the  supreme  authority.  It  interposes  its  decisive  ac 
tion  in  all  questions,  binding  together  and  regulating  the 
motion  of  all  the  social  particles,  the  smallest  as  well  as 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  143 

the  largest.  No  conflict  whatever  can  arise  which  could 
not  be  settled  by  the  courts.  The  decisions  of  the  court 
can  often  solve  knots  which  were  left  unsolved  by  the  elec 
tive  action  of  the  people. 

The  English  courts  would  not  dare  to  question  the 
constitutionality  of  a  law  enacted  by  the  parliament.  Nor 
could  this  be  done  by  the  supreme  court  in  France.  In 
European  states  administrative  conflicts  are  decided  by  the 
executive.  The  councils  of  state  which  surround  the 
monarchies  in  Europe,  are  executive  and  administrative 
wheels  in  the  governmental  machinery.  Neither  the  su 
preme  will  of  a  parliament  in  England  or  on  the  continent, 
however  oppressive  it  might  prove  for  political  parties,  ad 
ministrative  branches  or  single  individuals ;  nor  the  per 
sonal  will  of  a  sovereign,  however  arbitrary  might  be  its 
action,  could  find  a  curb  in  the  judicial  powers.  In  the 
historical  records,  of  pure  monarchical  states  especially, 
rarely  do  we  find  the  evidences  of  respect  for  laws  given 
by  the  master,  and  of  the  confidence  of  the  subject  in  the 
integrity  of  their  distribution,  like  that  shown  by  the  mil 
ler  of  Potsdam,  who  answered  Frederick  the  Great,  that 
there  are  judges  in  Berlin  against  royal  ivhims  ;  an  an 
swer  which  remains  as  the  purest  ray  of  glory  in  the  reign 
of  this  philosophical  absolutist. 

The  efficacy  of  the  judicial  power,  which  in  its  nature 
is  rather  moral  than  physical,  reposes  on  the  inherent  re 
spect  of  each  individual  for  the  law  and  its  decisions.  In 
some  exceptional  cases  the  law  might  be  pushed  aside  in 
the  momentary  fermentation  of  passion,  or  when  its  ad 
ministration  was  wilfully  desecrated ;  but  the  immense 
majority  of  the  population  submits  to  the  enforcement  of 
judicial  decisions,  with  a  confidence  and  ease  unknown  and 
unthought  of  in  Europe.  Every  truly  free  man  here  re 
cognizes  without  hesitation,  the  judicial  power  as  the  su- 


144  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

preme  regulator  of  society.  The  American  communities, 
the  American  self-governing  people,  in  their  homage  to  the 
law,  stand  unique  in  history.  The  voluntary  recognition 
of  the  supremacy  of  verdicts  issued  in  the  name  of  reason, 
justice  and  equity,  is  the  highest  manifestation  of  social 
culture  which  society  could  attain  in  its  present  stage.  It 
evidences  the  deliberate  effort  of  a  free  people,  legislating 
for  itself — and  not  receiving  the  law  from  a  founder,  a 
sovereign  or  an  individual  legislator,  in  order  to  defend  it 
self  against  outbursts  of  excited  or  virulent  passions. 
The  judge  who  speaks,  is  presumed  not  to  speak  under  the 
inspiration  of  his  individual  will,  but  to  utter  the  words 
of  a  positive  existing  law ;  he  is  enlightened  by  its  cool 
and  discriminating  spirit.  The  supremacy  conceded  to 
the  judge  over  the  legislator,  has  a  psychological  charac 
ter,  and  results  from  the  supposition  that  legislative  as 
semblies  might  act  under  the  impulse  or  the  pressure  of 
violent  excitement ;  that  the  spirit  of  party,  or  momen 
tary  enthusiasm  for  a  notion  or  a  reform,  might  carry 
them  too  far,  cloud  their-lppreciative  faculties,  and  result 
in  enactments  at  variance  with  previous  laws,  and  with  bind 
ing  constitutional  compacts.  The  judicial  courts,  as  the 
constituted  guardians  of  the  existing  laws,  represent  the 
sober  second  thought,  the  purified  conscience  of  the  com 
munity. 

In  many  cases,  experience  has  shown  that  the  supre 
macy  accorded  to  the  law,  and  to  its  organ,  the  judge,  is 
wise  and  salutary.  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  features  of 
the  system.  It  is  the  highest  homage  rendered  to  the 
power  of  reason.  Often,  where  in  Europe  brute  arbitrary 
or  military  force  intervenes  and  settles  disputes  in  blood, 
in  America  the  calm,  fearless  decision  of  the  law  deter 
mines  irrevocably,  tranquillizes  passions,  prevents  violent 
conflicts  among  powers,  as  well  as  among  individuals,  and 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  145 

is  intended  even  to  rectify  or  to  arrest  the  influence  of 
passion  in  the  legislators  themselves. 

But  this  subordination  of  the  legislator  to  the  judge, 
or  in  other  words,  of  the  ever-living  spirit  to  the  dead  let 
ter,  has  its  dark  shadows.  Judges  as  well  as  legislators, 
can  take  an  active  part  in  the  interests  of  life  by  which 
they  are  surrounded,  can  be  acted  on  and  carried  away  by 
passions.  In  such  cases  their  decisions  clash  with  the  bet 
ter,  generous  tendencies  of  the  people,  of  the  majority. 
The  judges  act  in  the  name  of  the  past,  they  sustain  the 
past  to  the  detriment  of  new  conceptions,  derived  from 
new  wants  and  conditions,  from  the  moral  progress  and 
amelioration  of  the  community.  Often  the  judge,  with 
Mosaic  rigidity,  adheres  to  the  letter,  excluding  the  spirit, 
which  alone  can  reinvigorate  society  at  whatever  stage  it 
may  have  reached.  Thus  in  the  temperance  question,  the 
people  of  various  States  legislated  to  protect  itself  against 
the  temptation  of  crime.  The  majority  of  the  courts 
overruled  this  noble  attempt,  annihilating  by  technicalities 
the  inspirations  of  morality. 

Further,  the  omnipotence  of  the  courts  and  judges, 
however  conservative  of  society  they  may  be  considered, 
degenerates,  like  every  kind  of  rigid,  lifeless  conservatism, 
into  a  kind  of  despotism.  But  despotism  of  whatever 
nature  or  name,  exercised  by  a  sovereign  or  by  a  judge,  is 
antagonistic  to  regulated  and  healthy  progress.  The  des 
potism  of  tyrants  leaning  on  bayonets,  or  of  judges  abu 
sing  the  construction  to  be  put  upon  laws,  both  demoral 
ize  society.  Courts  and  judges,  overruling  by  their  ver 
dicts  the  laws  which  have  been  enacted  by  legislatures, 
and  issuing  directly  from  the  people,  substitute  the  will 
of  the  few  for  that  of  the  many.  The  judge  publishes  his 
individual  opinion,  and  construes  the  law  according  to  the 
comprehension  of  his  individual  intellect.  So  after  all,  a 
7 


14:6  AMERICA   AND   ETJKOPE. 

judge  exercises  in  theory,  as  well  as  in  certain  contingen 
cies  practically,  as  much  of  absolute  power  as  can  be  ex 
ercised  by  a  sovereign  prince.  It  is  true,  that  the  judge 
acts  within  certain  limitations  and  forms,  but  entrenched 
behind  them  his  power  is  as  irresponsible  as  that  of  an} 
absolute  ruler.  Thus  slavery-sustaining  influences  have 
more  than  once  polluted  the  judiciary,  and  foiled  the  con 
fidence  of  society  in  the  impartiality  of  the  distributors 
of  justice.  An  unprincipled  judge  becomes  as  remorseless 
as  the  most  bloody  despot. 

There  is  the  most  remarkable  analogy  between  the 
conduct  of  Judge  Kane,  in  the  celebrated  case  of  Wil 
liamson,  who,  according  to  existing  laws,  instructed  a  slave 
in  his  rights  to  freedom,  and  aided  him  in  their  legal  re 
covery,  and  that  of  Francis  I.,  of  Austria,  towards  the 
Lombard  patriots  of  1822,  who  were  imprisoned  in  Spiel 
berg.  Maroucelli  became  sick ;  Francis  refused  permission 
for  the  martyr  to  be  visited  by  a  skilful  physician,  reply 
ing  to  all  entreaties,  tJ&t  the  governor  of  the  dungeoi  i 
was  to  take  care  of  the  health  of  his  prisoner,  who  finally 
paid  by  the  amputation  of  a  leg  for  the  ferocity  of  the 
Hapsburg.  So  Judge  Kane  replied  to  all  solicitations  or 
account  of  his  prisoner,  that  the  United  States  marshal 
had  to  take  care  of  the  good  health  of  Williamson.  The 
pressure  of  public  indignation  forced  the  judge  to  open  the 
dungeon,  but  he  displayed  as  much  ferocity  as  was  allowed 
by  the  state  of  society  wherein  he  lives.  Francis  I.  was 
a  despot,  born  and  educated  in  the  idea  that  his  will  was 
superior  to  the  laws,  and  that  he  could  deal  with  men  ac 
cording  to  his  pleasure.  The  American  judge  deliberately 
abused  a  power,  freely  intrusted  to  him  by  society,  for  its 
own  well-being  and  security.  WThich  of  the  two  is  the 
greater  criminal  ? 

Self-government  developes   self-consciousness  in   the 


SELF-GO  VEKNMENT. 

private  individual  as  well  as  in  the  whole  people,  or  rather 
in  spirit  as  in  application,  they  act  on,  fructify  and  re 
ciprocally  support  each  other.  In  this  intimate  relation 
ship  and  fusion,  true  self-government  as  the  outward  man 
ifestation,  requires  and  is  based  internally  on  a  higher  and 
purer  morality,  than  can  be  possessed  by  any  people,  na 
tion  or  community,  submitted  to  a  recognized  superior 
•power,  tutored  by  the  will  of  one  or  of  a  few,  directed, 
ruled  by  kings  or  prophets.  A  blind  faith  is  no  faith  at 
all,  and  not  such  a  faith,  but  perception,  reason,  constitute 
manhood,  make  the  man  a  moral  and  good  being.  .  Thus 
self-government  is  the  highest  assertion  of  the  dignity  of 
man ;  it  is  the  most  powerful  agency  of  human  culture,  is 
the  most  powerful  stimulus  of  a  productive,  orderly  ac 
tivity.  The  rapid,  well-regulated  progress  and  develop 
ment  of  American  society  in  various  directions,  is  the 
fruit  of  self-government  and  of  its  corollaries  and  comple 
ments.  Those  communities  and  States  of  the  American 
commonwealth,  in  which  self-government  is  operative  in 
its  normal  conditions,  are  far  superior  in  morality,  in  cul 
ture,  in  mental  and  material  productiveness,  in  the  spirit 
of  order,  to  those  communities  where  self-government,  un 
der  the  baneful  influence  of  slaveocracy,  has  degenerated 
into  violent  and  reckless  self-will,  or  dwindled  down  to  a 
sham,  to  a  social  lie.  As  light  and  warmth  generate 
higher  productions  and  vegetation,  so  self-government  and 
self-consciousness  generate  higher  comprehension  and  ap 
preciation  of  mutual  relations  and  duties.  They  melt 
down  stupidity,  evoke  action,  enterprise,  stir  up  the  ini 
tiatory  creative  powers  of  a  people.  They  are  the  cardi 
nal  conditions  for  individuals,  as  well  as  for  a  nation,  of  a 
vigorous,  healthy,  and  thus  of  a  superior  activity. 

In  no  previous  state  and  form  of  society,  in  no  nation, 
has  self-government  constituted  so  fully  as  in  America  the 


148  AMERICA  AND  EUEOPE. 

cardinal  element,  the  active  spirit  of  political  union.  But 
even  its  imperfect  application  and  the  deficient  attempts 
at  its  realization,  made  in  European  republics,  have  always 
evinced  its  superiority  to  the  absolutely  authoritative 
mode  of  conducting  society.  Notwithstanding  all  the  de 
ficiencies  and  aberrations  from  the  absolute  principle  of 
self-government,  in  republics  ruled  by  oligarchies  and  aris 
tocracies,  by  corporations  and  guilds,  the  arts,  mental  and 
material  culture,  industry,  commerce,  evoked  as  by  a 
spell,  have  taken  an  instantaneous  start  and  growth  ;  while 
under  the  centralized  power,  where  the  tuition  of  the  people 
has  been  carried  out  by  the  government,  where  authority. 
as  the  constitutive  conception,  prevails  and  rules,  the  pro 
cess  of  culture  and  of  civilization  is  toilsome  and  slow, 
Free  communities  and  states — in  spite  of  all  their  imper 
fections — in  general  have  accomplished  an  extensive  pro 
gress  in  as  many  decades,  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  re 
quired  centuries. 

Self-government,  self  consciousness,  necessitate  a  higher 
culture,  and  furnish  motives  for  its  spreading  and  expan 
sion.  They  are  the  healthiest  incentives  of  the  energies 
of  the  individual  and  of  the  people.  They  alone  convey 
the  various  powers  of  intelligent  activity  to  various  and 
congenial  channels.  All  the  so-called  paternal  regimes, 
all  the  strong  centralized  governments,  seizing  and  appro 
priating  to  themselves  the  right  of  initiative,  often  per 
vert  the  faculties,  falsify  their  nature  and  tendencies,  and 
divert  them  forcibly  from  normal  developments  and  pur 
suits.  All  such  governments  are  apt  to  decide  rapidly  on 
mischief,  but  are  sluggish  in  introducing  ameliorations,  in 
initiating  new  conceptions,  in  carrying  out  beneficial  meas 
ures.  Thus  when  a  government  hesitates,  and  its  hesita 
tion  is  occasioned  by  narrowmindedness,  by  conceit,  by  the 
spirit  of  envy,  by  the  misunderstood  tendency  of  self-preser- 


SELF-GOYEKNMENT.  149 

vation,  by  utter  inability  to  disentangle  itself  from  the 
meshes  of  ancient  routine ;  a  self-governing  people  in 
vents,  creates,  acts,  selects,  applies,  makes  experiments, 
arrives  at  results  and  marches  onward  without  respite. 
The  initiative,  as  well  as  the  execution,  is  in  the  brains, 
in  the  might,  in  the  hands  of  every  member  of  the  com 
munity.  A  government  watches  and  controls  every  pul 
sation  of  intellect,  regulates  and  therefore  hinders  and 
cramps  every  spontaneity  and  impulse,  throws  impedi 
ments  in  the  way  of  every  enterprise.  .Governments  re 
semble  lamplighters  who  maintain  through  their  lamp 
posts  a  scanty  and  limited,  vacillating  light ;  in  a  self-gov 
erning  people  it  pours  out  freely  from  the  aggregate  mass 
of  intellect ;  radiates  warmth  in  all  directions,  making 
darkness  recede  and  ignorance  disappear. 

Every  thing  great,  beneficial,  useful  in  America,  is  ac 
complished  without  the  action  of  the  so-called  government, 
notwithstanding  even  its  popular,  self-governing  character. 
Individual  impulses,  private  enterprise,  association,  free 
activity,  the  initiative  pouring  everlastingly  from  within 
the  people,  are  mostly  substituted  here  for  what  in  Euro 
pean  societies  and  nations  forms  the  task  of  governments. 
Governmental  or  legislative  action  in  America  is  limited 
to  giving,  in  required  cases,  the  legal  formalities  to  asso 
ciated  or  individual  undertakings,  or  to  using  the  pub 
lic  resources  and  administrative  wheelworks,  for  ends 
pointed  out,  demanded  and  ordered  by  the  will  of  the  peo 
ple.  But  by  far  the  larger  number  of  monuments,  works 
and  useful  establishments,  for  industry,  trade,  for  facilita 
ting  and  spreading  tuition  and  mental  culture,  universi 
ties,  schools  and  scientific  establishments,  are  created  and 
endowed  by  private  enterprise,  by  private  association,  and 
by  individual  munificence.  As  there  is  no  government  in 
the  strict  European  sense,  or  according  to  philosophical 


150  AMEEICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

definitions,  neither  individuals  separately,  nor  the  aggre 
gated  people  look  to  the  government  for  such  creations  ; 
private  association  and  enterprise — those  corollaries  of 
self-government — untrammelled  by  governmental  action, 
have  covered  the  land  with  railways  and  canals,  and  when 
under  the  most  enlightened  government  of  Europe,  that  of 
Napoleon  I.,  the  scientific  academy  of  France  rejected  the 
discovery  of  Fulton,  it  was  seized  and  realized  by  private 
enterprise  in  America.  Private  enterprise  has  constructed 
iron  tracks,  and  covered  the  soil  with  their  networks  at  a 
time  when  the  governments  of  Europe  scarcely  dared  to 
make  some  few  trials  of  this  new  mode  of  communica 
tion.  And  all  this  was  accomplished  against  heavy  odds, 
in  a  country  without  sufficient  hands  to  labor,  with  insuffi 
cient  capital.  Hands  and  capital  were  provided,  imported 
by  the  unrelenting  energy  of  private  enterprise.  All  this 
could  not  have  been  miraculously  carried  out,  if  the  Amer 
ican  people  had  been  accustomed  to  look  to  a  government 
for  the  initiative,  instead*  of  taking  it  themselves.  With 
out  the  self-governing  impulse,  America  would  be  mate 
rially  and  socially  a  wilderness. 

The  superiority  of  private  enterprise  over  any  so- 
called  governmental  centralizing  action,  is  daily  evidenced 
here.  In  many  branches  of  administration  the  govern 
ment  remains  behind  what  an  individual  enterprise  ful 
fils.  Thus  the  carriage  of  letters  and  the  whole  branch  ol 
postal  administration,  is  successfully  rivalled  by  private 
expresses.  Many  other  administrative  branches  seem  des 
tined  in  the  course  of  time,  to  be  superseded  by  private 
enterprise.  A  time  may  come,  when  even  armaments  and 
armies  may  be  levied  on  the  account  of  states,  but  by  pri 
vate  individuals.  Armories  and  navy  docks  would  to-day 
be  better  managed  by  private  than  they  are  by  govern 
mental  administration.  Even  external  relations  are  bet- 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  151 

ter  secured  by  the  numberless  threads  of  private  inter 
ests,  between  America  and  Europe,  which  extend  and 
cross  each  other,  than  by  official  representatives,  or  by  the 
stipulations  of  treaties  and  conventions. 

Self-government  harmonizes  with  one  of  the  most  sa 
lient  and  all-absorbing  features  of  the  popular  character. 
Americans  are  spurred  on  by  what  may  be  called  a  devour 
ing  mobility.  Domestic  ties,  the  affections  of  home  and 
hearth,  are  powerless  over  the  immense  majority.  Action 
carries  them  away,  and  they  change  with  wonderful  facil 
ity  spots,  abodes,  regions,  and  states.  Most  individuals 
on  starting  in  life,  have  no  attachment  to  this  or  that 
place,  and  plunge  into  the  wilderness  and  distant  solitudes ; 
establish  there  homes  and  change  them  again.  Without 
this  restlessness,  America  would  not  have  expanded  and 
become  peopled,  nor  would  civilization,  culture  hav'e  been 
spread  over  primitive  forests,  over  prairies  and  valleys. 
But  only  among  a  free,  self-conscious,  self-governing  peo 
ple  could  this  mobility,  from  beneath  whose  steps  spring 
up  communities  and  states,  have  had  such  beneficial  signifi 
cance  ;  as  it  is  only  in  self-government  that  such  charac 
teristics  of  a  people  could  find  the  adequate  conditions  for 
a  free,  untrammelled  play.  Mobility  urges  the  American 
incessantly  to  work,  to  undertake,  to  spread,  create,  pro 
duce.  He  could  not  wait  for  the  permission  or  sanction  of 
those  urgings  by  a  government,  or  submit  to  receive  ad 
vice,  or  move  in  the  leading-strings  of  governmental  di 
rections.  All  this  is  wholly  incompatible  with  the  nature 
of  the  American,  with  his  mental  habits,  as  well  as  with 
the  eombiDation  of  circumstances  around  him.  Events 
urged  the  first  settlers  not  to  attach  themselves  to  spots, 
not  to  be  soldered  to  them,  but  to  extend,  spread  uninter 
ruptedly  farther  and  farther,  to  work  and  subdue  lands 
and  regions.  Thus  at  the  start  was  shaped  out  this  fea- 


152 


AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 


ture  of  character,  and  it  was  strengthened  more  and  more 
in  each  successive  generation.  Self-consciousness  was  the 
natural  compass  of  this  mobility;  they  are  intimately 
blended ;  and  mobility,  thus  creative  and  productive,  forms 
one  of  the  most  vital  nerves  of  self-government. 

The  constructive  action  of  self-government,  its  living 
force,  its  self-organizing  power,  and  its  active  spirit  of  po 
litical  communion,  its  superiority  in  practical  execution 
over  theoretical  conceptions  and  schemes,  were  evidenced 
in  the  organization  of  California.  Nearly  contemporary 
events  in  Europe  showed,  that  men  schooled  in  the  self- 
governing  townships  of  America,  possess  more  constructive 
aptitude  for  organizing  society  than  the  theorists,  the  re 
formers,  the  leaders  of  the  European  revolutions  of  1843. 

The  gold  sands  of  California  attracted  at  once  the  most 
reckless  and  adventurous  characters  from  all  parts  of  the 
globe.  Auri  sacra  fames  stirs  up,  even  generates  the 
worst  passions.  This  incendiary,  centrifugal  conglomera 
tion,  repulsive  to  all  organization,  became  a  body  politic, 
formed  a  state,  a  constitution,  enacted  laws  for  jurispru 
dence  and  administration  with  the  greatest  ease,  although 
surrounded  by  various  impediments  and  difficulties.  The 
men  who  constructed  and  organized  this  new  commonwealth, 
had  been  practically  trained  in  their  old  states  in  this  so 
cial  architecture  ;  men  mostly  without  names,  unknown 
generally,  and  not  trained  in  what  would  be  called  in  Eu 
rope,  the  higher  statesmanship.  In  1848  France  and  Ger 
many  attempted  a  renovation,  a  reinvigoration  of  society. 
In  both  countries  the  people,  called  for  the  first  time  to 
use  its  rights  of  suffrage,  selected  all  prominent  capacities 
in  different  departments.  In  Germany,  as  in  France, 
statesmen,  politicians,  savants,  reformers,  men  represent 
ing  the  most  advanced  social  conceptions  and  theories, 
were  intrusted  by  the  people  with  the  task  of  erecting  a 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  153 

new  social  and  political  structure.  Learning,  skill,  expe 
rience  and  higher  mental  accomplishments  were  called  out. 
To  be  sure,  California  was  a  virgin  soil,  on  which  any 
structure  could  have  been  easily  raised,  while  in  Europe 
various  and  antagonistic  elements  were  thrown  together, 
and  the  social  soil  was  encumbered  in  many  ways.  But 
at  the  start,  in  the  first  days  of  these  revolutions,  memo 
rable  for  their  miscarriage,  the  impediments  were  by  no 
means  so  great ;  the  incapacity  of  the  architects  and  build 
ers  gave  them  time  to  grow,  to  increase,  to  extend.  In 
the  first  moment,  the  panic-struck  representatives  of  the 
past,  the  kings  and  their  retinue  in  Germany,  were  ready 
to  yield  to  every  demand,  even  to  give  up  their  power,  and 
an  immense  majority  of  the  French  and  of  the  German 
people,  was  prepared  to  carry  out  sternly  the  decisions  of 
their  representatives.  There  was  originally  little  if  any 
resistance,  little  if  any  retrograde  pulling,  and  it  could 
easily  have  been  overpowered  by  a  prompt,  constructive 
action.  But  the  renovators  of  society  at  once  lost  them 
selves  in  a  labyrinth  of  theorems  and  discussions,  losing 
precious  time,  and  the  prostrated  enemy  recovered  spirits 
and  strength.  In  France  the  masses  slid  out  of  the  hands 
of  the  revolutionary  leaders,  because  these  showed  an  ut 
ter  incapacity  of  satisfying  their  direct  interests  and  aspi 
rations  ;  because  they  were  unable  to  erect  a  new,  social 
and  political  edifice,  well  adapted  to  the  well-being  of 
the  masses.  The  same,  to  a  far  greater  extent,  was  the 
case  in  Germany.  And  by  the  way,  it  may  be  observed, 
that  the  whinings  of  the  men  of  1848-49,  in  both  coun 
tries,  about  treason  by  their  opponents,  were  childish  and 
ridiculous.  Kings,  absolutists,  conservatives  of  every 
hue,  Bonapartists,  royalists  remained  true  to  their  nature, 
and  did  not  belie  it.  It  was  childish  to  expect  from  any  of 
them  to  co-operate  sincerely  in  a  social  or  political  renova- 


154  AMEBICA  AND   EUROPE. 

tion.  This  they  never  could  do.  They  were  at  war  with 
the  new  and  generous  ideas,  which  were  hateful  to  them ; 
they  were  on  the  defensive,  and  used  all  the  tricks,  strata 
gems  and  means  in  their  power  to  crawl  upon,  and  then  to 
crush,  to  strangle  the  enemy.  The  worse  for  the  simple- 
minded,  who  trusted  them,  who  rose  to  grapple  with  forces 
and  events,  while  unequal  to  the  task,  destitute  of  prompt 
ness  in  conception,  destitute  of  energy  in  action.  Europe 
therefore  was  groping  in  indecision  and  in  darkness.  The 
Americans  go  directly  to  positive,  fixed  solutions,  evolving 
from  a  broad,  normal  principle.  This  enables  them  to 
found  communities,  and  erect  states  as  easily  as  houses. 
Europe  vacillates  between  various  principles  and  theories, 
and  does  not  possess  a  fixed  mode  for  their  execution ;  but 
nations  exist  through  positive  solutions,  and  not  through 
uncertainties. 

The  American  social  and  political  world  possesses  in 
its  self-government  a  mode  of  solving  all  future  questions, 
whatever  may  be  their  purport,  nature  and  complication. 
As  the  present  political  union  was  the  creation  of  the  self- 
government,  so,  by  a  new  evolution,  a  new  formation  may 
evolve  out  of  this  fruitful  principle.  Political  forms,  so 
cial  organizations,  are  progressive  and  perfectible,  as  is 
every  thing  belonging  to  the  mental  and  intellectual  man 
ifestations.  The  creative  power  of  the  human  spirit  is 
inexhaustible,  and  in  freedom,  self-action,  self-conscious 
ness,  man  realizes  himself  in  the  outward  world.  Only 
the  tendency  to  progress  and  perfectibility,  is  eternal  and 
limitless  in  the  race  ;  the  scientific  theories,  the  political 
forms  and  solutions  are  temporary,  and  subject  to  be  al 
tered,  rejected  and  made  afresh.  In  the  field  of  natural 
science,  new  discoveries  enrich  the  human  mind,  increase 
the  human  power  and  welfare,  change  and  improve  man's 
conditions  of  existence,  remodel  or  create  new  bases  for 


SELF-GOVEEXMENT.  155 

the  scientific  comprehension  of  the  creation.  Social  sci 
ences  are  subject  to  like  laws,  and  their  solutions  are  not 
definite.  What  is  considered  as  an  ism  in  a  century  or 
rejected  as  such  by  a  generation,  becomes  often  a  social 
or  scientific  truth,  a  theorem  and  fact  for  the  following 
one.  Christian  Europe  has  more  than  once  changed  her 
political  forms,  her  internal  domestic  social  economy,  her 
current  of  conceptions,  of  ideas.  But  all  such  changes, 
evolutions  and  transitions,  were  accomplished  with  more 
or  less  violent  eruptions,  commotions,  and  amid  bloodshed 
and  destruction.  The  normal  and  ordinary  action  of  a  ra 
tional  self-government  is  sufficient  to  carry  out  and  to  ac 
complish  in  an  orderly  manner,  any  future  changes  and 
evolutions,  marking  the  ascending  social  development  and 
expansion  of  America. 

Social  equality,  the  facility  to  acquire  by  individual 
exertions  a  social  standing,  the  public  and  political  life, 
open  and  accessible  to  every  one,  whatever  may  be  his 
situation,  his  precedents,  or  occupation — provided  he  suc 
ceeds  in  winning  the  confidence  or  the  partiality  of  his  fel 
low-citizens  ;  all  this  combined,  in  free  communities,  cre 
ates  a  powerful  stimulus  to  personal  ambition.  Self-gov 
ernment  more  than  any  other  political  form,  widens  the 
horizon  and  smooths  the  path  for  ambitious  longings. 

Moralists  and  philosophers  have  been  of  old  wont  to 
represent  ambition  as  one  of  the  cardinal  sources  of  all 
the  evils  which  spread  over  and  gnaw  at  humanity.  But 
this  passion  is  primordial,  generally  innate  in  our  na 
ture.  It  was  and  will  remain  one  of  the  most  powerful 
incentives  of  human  action.  It  is  indestructible,  shoots 
out  and  reveals  itself  in  various  ways  and  modes.  Only 
hypocrites  can  pass  absolute  condemnation  upon  what  is 
intrinsically  rooted  in  man.  Society  ought  to  be  orga 
nized  in  a  manner  not  to  debase  and  pervert,  but  to  pu- 


156  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

rify  and  regulate,  to  combine  harmoniously  and  bring  to 
an  equipoise  the  innate  passions  which  stimulate  the  di 
versified,  all-absorbing  activity  of  man.  Society  ought  to 
procure  ample  scope  for  their  normal  expansion.  Then 
ambition,  as  all  other  passions,  innoxious  in  principle,  will 
become  beneficial  and  fruitful  for  social  relations.  In 
self-governing  communities  this  balance  and  accord  of  cer 
tain  passions,  at  least,  if  not  all  of  them,  is  nearer  approached 
than  in  any  other  political  form.  In  them  even  that  kind 
of  distorted  ambition,  which  forms  the  subject  of  accusa 
tions  and  complaints,  is  rendered  less  dangerous,  less  men 
acing,  and  less  subversive.  The  organization  of  society 
makes  it  impossible  for  political  ambition  to  crawl  long  in 
the  dark,  and  approach  its  end  by  crooked  ways,  to  seize 
by  surprise  upon  the.  masses,  to  drag  the  people,  the  na 
tion  forcibly,  as  an  unconscious  clump.  Whatever  efforts 
it  may  use  to  maintain  secrecy ,  such  an  ambition  is  al 
ways  detected.  Daylight  exposes  it.  It  must  act  under 
the  eyes  of  all,  under  the  argus-eyed  publicity.  It  is  to 
meet  public  opinion  face  to  face  ;  it  is  watched  and 
controlled  on  every  winding  and  by-way.  When  words 
and  actions  are  appreciated,  judged  and  scrutinized  pub 
licly,  and  by  all  who  are  willing  to  do  it,  the  power  of  ex 
ercising  blind  attraction  and  sway  is  weakened  and  soon 
destroyed.  Whatever  may  be  the  anthropological  or  social 
appreciation  of  the  baneful  or  beneficial  influence  of  the 
passions,  unquestionably  they  are  more  easily  regulated  by 
expansion  than  by  compression.  Ambition  in  a  free  com 
munity  necessarily  moves  in  a  purer  air,  and  thus  becomes 
less  corrosive.  Competition  rubs  off  the  venomous  sting, 
hollowness  runs  rapidly  through  its  course;  breaking  in 
pieces  by  its  own  emptiness.  Public  life — the  possible  lot 
of  every  one — evokes  ambitions  from  all  sides,  and  these 
check  each  other.  The  more  openings  for  ambition,  the 


SELF-GO  VEKNMENT.  157 

easier  the  outlet,  the  less  danger  of  violent  explosions,  or 
of  dark,  secret,  corrupting  dealings  and  designs. 

Ambition  in  itself,  in  its  normal  state  is  a  lever  and  a 
ferment,  whose  action  benefits  humanity.  Ambition  and 
love  are  almost  inseparable.  Intense  love  of  any  object 
whatever,  makes  the  individual  bent  on  success,  desirous 
of  elevating  this  object  above  all  others,  makes  him  ambi 
tious.  Love  and  ambition  for  science  have  inspired  all 
the  great  discoverers  of  the  laws  and  of  the  forces  of  na 
ture.  Ambition  urged  Columbus  to  penetrate  into  un 
known  immensities  of  space.  Love  for  the  good,  and  am 
bition  to  be  benefactors  of  their  brethren,  illuminated  the 
moralists.  Whoever  has  the  consciousness  of  powers  of 
whatever  reach  and  nature,  is  ambitious  to  produce  them, 
to  make  them  creative  and  useful,  to  win  acknowledgment. 
"Whoever  has  faith  in  himself,  in  his  convictions  and  prin 
ciples,  has  the  ambition  to  make  them  prevail.  "Whoever 
feels  himself  capable  of  doing  good,  will  have  the  ambi 
tion  to  obtain  assent,  and  by  it  the  power  to  carry  out 
his  conceptions.  Whoever  acts  and  produces,  aims  unin 
terruptedly  at  reaching  a  superior  degree,  is  ambitious  of 
perfection,  and  thus  of  surpassing  his  equals,  his  competi 
tors. 

In  a  distorted  social  state,  ambition,  like  most  other 
passions,  has  its  weak,  shadowy  and  dark  sides.  It  often 
takes  root  in  an  impure  soil.  When  pouring  out  from  a 
muddy  fountain,  then  its  course  poisons  or  tarnishes.  His 
tory  bristles  with  evidences  of  those  unscrupulous,  ac 
cursed  ambitions,  which  have  so  often  imbrued  her  annals 
in  blood.  Such  an  ambition  does  not  aim  at  winning  con 
victions,  but  at  depraving  them ;  it  aims  at  subduing  to 
its  will  the  will  of  others.  But  in  communities  based  on 
reason,  on  publicity,  on  culture,  on  self- consciousness  and 
self-government,  the  subterranean  furrowings  of  such  ambi- 


158  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

tions  are  less  dangerous,  and  their  final  supremacy  is  to  the 
utmost  degree  difficult,  if  not  wholly  impossible.  Ambi 
tious  but  depraved  politicians  in  republics,  appeal  to  and 
stir  up  the  most  degraded  passions  and  appetites ;  they  evokt 
to  the  surface,  to  action,  what  was  slumbering  or  hiddei 
under  self-conscious  shame.  Thus  they  succeed.  Bui 
their  success  is  generally  short.  Their  course  runs  rapidly 
through.  The  evil  perpetrated  by  them  prepares  their  fall 
If  the  people  becomes  for  a  moment  charmed  by  the  con 
jurer,  it  soon  recovers  self-control.  The  better  nature 
wins  the  upper  hand,  and  the  ambitious  schemer  preserves 
influence  only  over  the  refuse  of  the  community.  Sucl. 
ambitions  are  sooner  or  later  dissolved  by  the  rays  of 
light,  in  the  crucible  of  publicity,  among  populations  usec. 
to  investigate,  analyze  and  judge  every  member  of  society. 
In  those  republics  which  have  been  centralized  in  one  single 
city  or  spot,  an  unprincipled,  ambitious  leader  could  seize 
at  a  stroke,  and  delude  the  masses  in  the  forum,  deciding 
in  a  state  of  excitement^  So  he  could  extort  from  them 
their  assent,  and  involve  the  country  in  complications, 
overthrow  the  laws,  change  the  form  of  the  government. 
But  in  the  thoroughly  decentralized  American  common 
wealth,  such  surprise  of  the  public  conscience,  such  suc 
cess  is  mentally  and  materially  impossible.  The  ambition 
of  a  despot,  of  a  monarch,  of  ruling  oligarchies  and  aris 
tocracies,  have  been  always  mischief-brewing,  as  action 
succeeded  to  secret  decisions,  without  discussion.  An 
ambitious  adviser  or  minister  can  seize  upon  the  willing 
ear  of  the  monarch,  and  shake  the  corner-stones  of  his  own 
and  other  countries  for  personal  elevation,  but  not  thus  easy 
is  the  task  of  politicians,  who  are  surrounded  by  publicity, 
and  depend  on  the  assent  of  many.  In  the  American  com 
munities,  ambition  must  exclusively  recur  to  the  use  of 
mental  rather  than  material  means.  She  must  bribe  by 


SELF-  GOVERNMENT.  159 

flattery,  if  not  by  conviction,  rather  than  by  material 
advantages.  The  ambitious  must  convince  the  intellect, 
or  corrupt  it,  a  work  easy  with  few,  but  rather  difficult 
with  masses.  Here  ambition  cannot  reckon  on  the  sup 
port  of  stupified  tools,  on  that  of  brute  force,  on  that  of 
legionaries  or  bayonets.  Even  if  the  masses  of  people 
are  momentarily  carried  away,  intoxication  evaporates, 
and  self-interest  restores  the  balance.  A  Pisistratus,  a 
Caesar,  a  Napoleon,  even  a  Cromwell  could  not  succeed 
among  the  American  centrifugal  communities.  Generally 
the  eyes  of  the  people,  though  they  might  be  easily  daz 
zled  for  a  moment,  see  clear  on  a  cloudy  day. 

Self-government  in  its  full  action  and  development 
fosters  ambition,  nay,  makes  it  necessary  and  unavoidable. 
But  it  possesses  within  itself  the  most  efficient  correc 
tives,  neutralizing  aberrations,  stopping,  levelling  and  dry 
ing  up  the  devastating  current. 

Various  are  the  social  and  external  influences  which  bear 
and  press  upon  the  holder  of  power,  upon  the  government, 
and  which  share  it  directly  or  indirectly  with  the  mon 
arch,  limited  or  absolute.  In  oligarchical  and  aristocratic 
republics  some  families  preponderate,  and  have  generally 
divided  between  themselves  the  cares  and  advantages  of 
supreme  rule.  The  same  elements  surround  the  thrones, 
and  they  influence  the  supreme  decisions,  the  adminis 
tration  of  enacted  laws,  and  make  their  interests  prevail 
supremely  over  that  of  the  rest  of  the  subjects.  The 
landed  or  financial  wealth  of  the  country,  that  represented 
by  commerce,  industry,  manufactures,  all  of  them  in  some 
way  or  other  group  around  the  power,  centre  in  the  capi 
tal,  as  are  attracted  and  absorbed  by  it,  the  various  intel 
lects,  those  representatives  of  the  mental  expansion  of  the 
country.  Thus  the  seat  of  government  is  surrounded  by 
the  most  eminent  and  preponderating  compounds  of  the 


160  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

nation,  by  various  concentrated  interests,  and  receives 
from  them  inspiration,  impulsion.  The  European  capi 
tals,  forming  the  foci  of  the  various  resources  and  powers 
of  the  state,  react  on  the  government  in  the  same  propor 
tion  as  they  in  their  turn  are  materially  and  socially  af 
fected  by  the  personality  of  the  sovereign,  by  that  of  the 
court,  of  the  officials,  of  the  aristocracy.  The  ingredi 
ents  thus  combined  and  fermenting  surround,  to  a  great 
degree,  and  control  the  decisions  and  actions  of  legisla 
tive  bodies.  The  various  interests  concentrated  in  the 
capitals,  use  the  centralization  in  the  same  way  as  the 
governments.  Generally  all  of  them,  but  above  all  the 
aristocratic  and  the  financial,  combine  with  and  support 
each  other.  The  elective  franchise  every  where,  even  in 
England,  is  for  the  most  part  absorbed  in  or  directed  from 
the  capital,  by  the  like  combinations.  By  various  ways 
and  means  the  decisions  of  the  centre,  of  the  capital,  are 
conveyed  to  the  country,  the  elective  bodies  receive  the 
password,  and  elect  individuals  pointed  out  to  them  either 
by  the  government  or  by  the  opposition. 

In  the  formation  as  well  as  in  the  practical  operation  of 
the  administration  of  the  American  commonwealth,  and 
also  in  the  formation  of  the  legislative  bodies,  such  influ 
ences,  such  modes  of  action  are  wholly  impossible.  Here 
the  great  cities  are  generally  commercial  emporiums,  but 
often  are  not  the  capitals  of  the  respective  States,  nor  the 
seat  of  the  government  and  of  the  legislatures.  Those 
legislatures  represent  in  immense  majorities  the  country, 
its  population,  opinions  and  interests,  and  remain  wholly 
independent  of  the  pressure  exercised  by  large  cities,  and 
by  interests  concentrated  therein.  Worldly  social  cote 
ries — as  is  the  case  in  European  capitals — cannot  there 
fore  seize  upon  the  representatives,  circumvent  them,  and 
make  them  subservient  to  special  ends.  The  administra- 


SELF-GOVEENMENT.  161 

tion  and  the  legislature  thus  operate  with  more  ease,  are, 
so  to  speak,  in  a  purer  atmosphere,  are  not  controlled 
and  commanded  as  in  Europe ;  and  generally  the  interests 
of  the  country,  that  is  of  the  majority,  of  the  genuine 
people  or  nation,  are  paramount  in  the  governmental  and 
legislative  action,  overruling  in  case  of  conflict,  the  spe 
cial  interest  of  large  cities. 

The  public  service  is  coveted  by  aristocratic,  by  rich 
and  influential  individuals  in  Europe,  on  account  of  its  sta 
bility  of  influence,  and  of  other  material  advantages  as  well 
as  on  account  of  the  social  elevated  distinction  which  it 
confers  in  societies,  where  the  government  and  the  ruling 
power  form  their  keystone,  their  superior  stratum.  Public 
life,  official  position  satisfy  the  cravings  of  vanity,  clear  up 
the  existing  social  or  conventional  inequalities,  and  procure 
access  to  the  highest  social  circles.  Thus  many  of  those 
who  by  a  successful  and  industrious  activity,  have  become 
artisans  of  their  fortune,  and  secured  wealth  and  independ 
ence — or  those  who  by  mental  productiveness  have  rendered 
their  names  illustrious  in  science,  arts,  literature,  aspire 
finally  to  public  life,  considering  it  as  the  supreme  con 
secration  of  their  laborious  career.  Through  it  they  ac 
quire  influence,  standing,  ballast  and  consideration  in  a 
society  still  constituted  out  of  aristocratic  elements,  still 
divided  and  classified  according  to  certain  positive,  well 
defined  and  formal  distinctions.  In  America,  where  the 
mass  of  influence  is  scattered  among  the  people,  and  not 
condensed  in  a  caste,  in  a  civil  hierarchy,  or  in  a  class,  in 
centives  and  attractions,  similar  to  those  which  prevail  in 
Europe,  disappear.  Decentralization  operates  beneficially 
again  in  this,  preserving  the  administrative  branches  from 
many  contaminating  influences  and  contacts.  The  cities 
or  capitals  of  States  are  thus  brought  more  directly  under 
the  influence  of  the  country,  more  into  a  social  and  socia- 


162  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

ble  intercourse  with  it  than  with  the  great  commercial 
metropolis.  Thus  even  the  city  of  New  York,  one  of  the 
greatest  centres  of  the  civilized  and  commercial  world, 
influences  very  slightly,  if  at  all,  the  government  of  the 
State,  or  the  population.  Government  in  the  American  re 
publics  is  not  a  power  capable  of  conferring  any  stable  so 
cial  distinctions  which  do  not  exist  in  the  political  structure. 
Thus  men  who  have  acquired  fortunes  by  commerce  or  inr 
dustry,  rarely  take  a  direct  and  decided  part  in  public 
affairs,  although  they  participate  actively  in  the  general 
current  of  political  life.  They  do  not  come  before  the 
public  because  they  feel  their  incapacity  for  a  new  ca 
reer,  and  want  those  special  gifts  required  to  secure  pop 
ularity  with  the  masses.  Thus,  contrary  to  what  takes 
place  in  Europe,  Ahierican  legislatures  rarely  count  among 
their  members  those  representatives  of  argyrocracy,  the 
only  real  superiority  in  the  social  conditions  and  grada 
tions  ;  and  these  bodies  are  thus  less  easily  vitiated  than 
the  representative  houseg^n  Europe.  The  general  and 
various  elements,  interests  and  occupations  are  really  rep 
resented  by  artisans,  operatives,  farmers  and  professional 
men,  and  this  to  the  fullest  extent — a  case  rare  and  almost 
exceptional  in  Europe,  even  in  England,  where  the  nobili 
ty  and  gentry  still  form  in  parliament  a  large  dispropor 
tion  over  the  other  classes  and  positions. 

As  in  America  only  individuals  residing  in  reality  in 
the  townships  and  districts  can  become  elected  to  legis 
lative  functions,  the  elections  cannot  fall  into  the  hands 
of  committees  such  as  are  generally  formed  in  European 
capitals,  and  impose  their  choice  on  the  choice  of  the 
people.  The  American  law  and  mode  presents,  there 
fore,  one  more  barrier  against  centralization,  one  more 
guarantee  of  self-government.  Members  thus  elected  rep 
resent  really  the  various  needs,  opinions  and  interests  of 


SELF-GOVEBNMENT.  163 

their  constituents,  who  make  their  choice  with  full  knowl 
edge  of  the  elected,  guided  by  their  own  judgment — for 
which  in  Europe  is  often  substituted  the  bidding  of  a  par- 
A,y,  directing  from  one  centre  the  popular  decision.  Thus 
the  influence  of  a  party,  of  a  coterie,  is  often  substituted 
for  the  free  manifestation  of  the  popular  choice  ;  and  the 
elected  representatives  often  support  the  interests  patro 
nizing  them,  instead  of  the  true  interests  of  the  masses. 
Every  one  is  familiar  with  the  mode  of  proceeding  and  of 
vitiating  the  immediate  expression  of  the  popular  will 
which  is  used  by  political  parties  in  England.  In  France 
jven  during  the  short  democratic  exaltation  of  1848,  the 
Central  influence  over  the  suffrage  of  the  people  was  not 
given  up,  and  the  centralization  preserved  its  hold.  The 
celebrated  admonitory  circular  of  Carnot,  then  minister 
of  public  instruction,  advising  the  rural  population  to  elect 
for  the  national  assembly  members  immediately  from 
among  themselves,  was  received  with  general  animadver 
sion  by  politicians  and  statesman,  and  was  even  condemned 
by  the  most  decided  reformers  and  apostles  of  the  rights 
of  the  people.  It  was  considered  as  a  political  crime, 
what  in  American  communities  is  a  natural  result  of  de 
mocracy,  decentralization,  and  of  self-government. 

As  the  capitals  of  the  various  States  are  not  composed 
of  the  same  ingredients  as  those  of  Europe,  in  the  same 
way  the  capital  of  the  Union,  Washington,  the  seat  of  the 
Federal  Government,  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  capi 
tals  of  European  states.  It  exists  and  depends  wholly 
upon  the  Union,  that  is  upon  Congress,  and  thus  receives 
materially  and  mentally  its  vitality  from  without.  As  a 
capital  Washington  is  wholly  subject  to  the  influences 
which  congregate  there  from  all  parts,  and  represent  the 
opinions  and  social  functions  of  the  whole  nation.  The 
political  as  well  as  the  social  tone  is  given  by  the  national 


164:  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

representatives,  and  not  by  caste  grouped  eternally  around 
the  ruling  power.  Wealth  again  is  scarcely  represented  in 
Congress.  The  composition  of  Congress  corresponds  to 
that  of  the  State  legislatures,  as  those  for  the  most  part 
form  the  stepping-stone  for  the  former. 

The  various  influences  pointed  out  above  as  bearing 
upon  the  government  in  European  states,  are  superseded 
in  America — above  all  around  Congress — by  that  of  the 
so-called  politicians,  a  plant  of  special  growth,  a  sprout 
ing  out  principally  from  the  fermentation  of  free  insti 
tutions.  These  politicians  are  the  levers,  the  channels, 
but  as  often  the  managers  of  the  public  spirit.  They  cor 
respond  to  the  misused  and  common  denomination  of  dem 
agogues.  Their  existence  in  the  present  operation  of 
democratic  institutions  is  however  unavoidable.  If  evils 
they  are,  they  are  necessary  evils,  canvassers  and  convey 
ances  of  the  public  wishes,  of  public  opinion,  which  often 
they  stir  up,  awaken,  stimulate,  and  as  often  falsify.  They 
are  the  real  or  presumed  leaders  of  opinion  in  townships, 
districts  and  States,  but  they  again  depend  upon  the  opin 
ion,  upon  the  good  will,  the  confidence  of  those  whom  they 
lead.  However  baneful  often  may  be  their  influence  and 
doings,  still  the  origin,  the  source,  is  democratic,  and  there 
fore  unstable,  and  can  be  easily  changed  and  overthrown, 
— and  from  this  point  of  view  the  politicians  can  never 
demoralize  or  pervert  a  government  or  the  people  to  the 
same  extent,  as  can  be  done  by  the  open  or  secret  machi 
nations  of  a  hereditary  deep-rooted  aristocracy,  the  bur 
rowing  of  the  roots  of  absolute  power,  or  the  corrupting 
breath  of  the  concentrated  moneyed  corporations,  bankers, 
brokers  and  exchangers. 

The  working  of  self-government  is  an  uninterrupted 
trial.  Over  the  deep  and  firm  principle,  the  fluctuations 
of  opinion  rise  on  the  surface.  They  are  incessant,  they 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  165 

seemingly  change,  modify  or  transform  the  surface,  carry 
ing  away  individuals  and  masses.  Stability  reposes  in 
public-mindedness.  It  is  therefore  the  vital  atmosphere  ; 
without  it  self-government  must  dwindle  and  die  out. 
And  public-mindedness  and  an  intense  interest  in  general 
affairs  animates  the  masses,  as  well  as  the  most  of  those 
whom  the  turn  of  fortune  has  elevated  above  the  general 
level.  If  even  the  immense  majority  of  the  men  who 
possess  wealth  do  not  directly  try  to  enter  upon  a  public 
career,  they  nevertheless  are  interested  more  or  less  deeply 
in  public  policy,  in  general  questions.  The  most  eminent 
intellects,  the  most  cultivated  minds,  not  only  do  not  keep 
aloof  from  the  general  current,  but  often  contribute  to 
throw  light  upon  questions  of  general  significance  and  in 
terest.  The  existing  political  biases  are  only  poor,  ex 
hausted,  narrow-minded  individuals,  who,  under  this  as 
sumed  affectation  of  disgust  or  apathy,  cover  disappoint 
ment  or  mental  deficiency.  Some  European  writers  seem 
to  be  under  the  impression  that  in  general,  political  activ 
ity  is  abandoned  by  the  so-called  superior  minds  to 
turbulent,  unprincipled,  impure  meddlers — that  better 
men  shrink  in  disgust  from  the  doings  of  a  popular  govern 
ment.  This  state  of  apathy  has  not  seized  however  upon 
spirits  of  real  vitality  and  power.  The  immense  majority 
throughout  all  the  various  social  conditions, — rich  and 
poor, — feel  too  well  that  states  become  truly  great  and 
powerful  when  each  single  individual  considers  himself  a 
link  and  an  active  member  in  the  great  whole,  and  does 
not  avoid  or  even  hesitate  to  bear  individually  his  part  of 
the  public  burdens,  to  contribute  in  a  special  way  to  the 
work  which  aims  at  the  good  of  the  community. 

Nowhere  in  the  political  and  governmental  structure 
of  the  American  commonwealth,  any  more  than  in  social 
and  mental  development,  are  to  be  met  the  centres  which 


166  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

attract  and  keep  together  the  people  by  mental  and  mate 
rial  chains  and  links,  like  those  in  other  states  and  nations, 
directing,  and  giving  impulsion,  nay  even  absorbing  the  va 
rious  activities  of  the  population.  Upon  such  centres  de 
pended  and  still  depend  the  societies  of  the  European  world; 
these  centres  have  various  names  and  functions ;  they  form 
the  authoritative  pivots  on  which  turn  and  group  the  whole 
system  of  social  forces.  They  are  the  foci  of  light,  the 
hearts  or  the  heads  of  the  social  bodies.  Society  and  its 
philosophers  still  firmly  believe  in  their  unavoidable  ne 
cessity.  It  would  seem  therefore  that  the  American  com 
munities  ought  to  dissolve,  being  continually  under  the 
centrifugal  action  of  those  atoms  of  independent,  individ 
ual  sovereignty.  But  as  attraction  is  the  all-powerful,  al 
beit  invisible  band  of  the  sidereal  and  planetary  creation ; 
so  the  free  association  and  combination  of  forces,  of  inter 
ests,  of  rights  and  of  duties, — and  the  generality  of  mental 
culture,  those  fruits  of  freedom — are  the  invisible  cements 
of  the  American  communities. 

Self-government  is  the  healthy,  everlasting  maturity, 
is  the  full  manhood  of  man  in  the  social  state.  All  facul 
ties  and  powers  develope  themselves  therein  to  a  vigorous 
activity.  Youthful  not  senile  maturity  is  the  cardinal 
condition  of  progress  and  growth  in  the  mental  as  in  the 
material  world.  On  youthful  maturity  therefore  depends 
the  mental  development,  as  well  as  the  destinies  of  society. 
All  the  great  actions  in  history,  as  well  as  nearly  all  great 
ideas,  conceptions,  discoveries,  the  loftiest  inspirations  in 
arts  and  poetry,  have  been  accomplished  in  the  prime  of 
years,  and  before  the  turn,  the  approach  to  old  age.  Self- 
governing  society  alone  can,  so  to  say,  arrest  and  perpetu 
ate  the  duration  of  this  pithy  and  rich  social  and  mental 
productivity ;  an  epoch  for  man  as  well  as  for  society,  of 
lofty  and  generous  impulses,  of  high  creations  and  noble 


SELF-GOVERNMENT.  167 

and  salutary  decisions.  Senility  in  man  or  society  pro 
duces  diffidence  and  pusillanimity,  conceit  and  inactivity, 
extinguishes  faith  in  ideas  and  convictions,  and  attempts 
to  arrest  movement  and  progress,  to  bring  the  world  of 
ideas  and  of  creative  productions,  together  with  the  social 
development,  to  a  stand-still,  to  reduce  all  in  nature  to  a 
routine.  Senility  alone  despairs  of  the  efficacy  of  self- 
government. 

The  pliancy,  elasticity  and  expansiveness  of  self-gov 
ernment  render  it  eminently  adapted  to  self-development 
and  to  higher  progressive  solutions.  Thus  already  the  new 
States  growing  up  in  the  "West,  in  many  of  their  constitu 
tive  structures  and  institutions,  show  a  progress  over 
their  models  in  the  East,  adapting  them  to  new  combina 
tions  and  conditions.  These  Western  States,  the  purest 
offshoots  of  national  self-consciousness,  assert  their  origin 
more  boldly  than  their  generators.  They  have  no  other 
traditions,  no  past,  no  historical  connection  with  the  colo 
nial  state  of  dependency  in  political,  any  more  than  in 
mental  and  material  relations.  In  the  West,  therefore,  is 
to  be  given  the  fullest  expression  and  solution  of  all  the 
mental  and  social  terms  and  combinations  evoked,  created 
by  the  inauguration  of  this  new  epoch  of  pure  self-gov 
erning  democracy.  No  definitive  progress  or  ameliora 
tion  hitherto  marks  any  of  the  liberal  European  institu 
tions,  modelled  either  on  the  English  type  or  on  that  of 
the  French  era  of  1793.  And  the  reason  may  be,  that 
those  imitations  are  always  introduced  ready-made,  and 
introduced  authoritatively,  either  by  kings  or  by  social  or 
political  reformers  and  theorists,  without  direct  participa 
tion  of  the  people,  of  the  public  reason  and  sense.  But 
each  new  constitution  of  a  free  self-governing  State,  framed 
by  the  direct  action  of  the  people,  is  generally  a  marked 
amelioration,  and  contains  a  broader  conception  of  wants 


168  AMEEICA   AND   EUROPE. 

as  well  as  of  conditions,  than  did  the  older  preceding 
ones. 

Self-government  therefore,  in  the  succession  of  ages, 
considered  as  an  effort  of  humanity  for  the  advance 
ment  and  amelioration  of  her  social  structure  and  rela 
tions,  is  the  highest  product,  soaring  above  all  its  preced 
ing  forms  ;  forms  more  or  less  vital  and  inherent  to  society, 
and  all  which  in  given  epochs  served  to  facilitate  or  pro 
tect  its  growth  and  development.  Self-government  stands 
firmly  the  test  of  philosophical  analysis,  answers  the  most 
transcendent  speculations.  And  if  humanity  is  to  be 
modelled  according  to  abstract  types,  self-government  is 
its  present  most  perfect  typical  form.  It  stands  the  test 
and  the  trial  of  practical  execution  and  application,  as  well 
as  that  even  of  the -most  practical  and  direct  availability. 
It  may  have  its  epochs  of  terrible  and  dangerous  proba 
tion,  of  tension  and  even  of  crepitation  ;  but  such  menacing 
epochs — a  common  lot  of  vigor  and  life — will  find  in  the 
principle  itself  the  soothipg  cure.  Its  imperfections  and 
deficiencies  disappear  when  compared  with  the  pre-existent 
social  forms,  and  can  only  be  found  salient  when  compared 
with  a  new  and  higher  standard,  and  thus  for  the  time  a 
relatively  ideal  one.  All  the  other  social  constitutive 
ideas  of  the  past  are  exhausted,  effete,  worn  out,  degene 
rated,  disordered,  honey-combed  through  and  through,  and 
finally  powerless  and  unproductive.  All  of  them  look  up 
from  below  to  the  American  system,  expecting  from  it  a 
higher  solution  and  salvation,  all — whatever  may  be  the 
conceit  and  the  hypocrisy  of  their  representatives  and 
mouth-pieces — acknowledge  that  the  American  original 
self-governing  system  has  already  reached  regions  of  higher 
purity  and  serenity,  and  accordingly  more  favorable  to  the 
health  and  development  of  the  human  race. 


SLAVERY.  169 


CHAPTER  Y. 

SL A VEK Y . 

I 

IT  is  the  lot  of  the  American  Union  to  represent  man  in 
his  highest  and  nearly  typical  social  development,  by  the 
side  of  the  most  appalling  degradation.  It  is  the  lot  of 
American  institutions  to  evince  that  the  noblest  realiza 
tion  of  freedom,  the  purest  conception  of  manhood  hitherto 
known,  can  be  marred,  distorted  and  prostituted.  At  the 
side  of  the  highest  solutions  attainable  by  society  in  its 
present  stage,  as  manifested  in  democracy,  in  self-govern 
ment,  in  the  elevation  and  consecration  of  labor  in  its  all- 
embracing  sense,  as  the  loftiest  social  function,  there 
stands  Slavery,  with  its  degrading,  agonizing  contradic 
tions.  There  it  stands,  bidding  defiance  to  the  moral  sense 
of  humanity,  to  religious  conceptions,  to  civilization,  to 
social  progress ; — bidding  defiance  to  the  universal  condem 
nation  transmitted  by  past  ages,  and  repeated  more  and 
more  loudly  by  the  European,  that  is,  by  the  civilized 
world.  There  it  stands,  perverting  and  debasing  all  the 
cardinal  notions  of  American  social  and  political  associa 
tion;  notions  which  alone  constitute  its  intrinsic  worth. 
There  stands  slavery,  poisoning  in  the  substance  the  prom 
ises  anticipated  by  our  race,  from  the  fruition  of  seeds  which 
have  been  here  scattered  broadcast  by  reason,  conscience 
and  freedom. 
8 


170  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

Slavery,  as  now  maintained  in  the  States  of  the  Union, 
as  it  has  eaten  itself,  not  only  into  the  political  and  muni 
cipal  institutions,  but  into  social,  domestic  and  family  life, 
into  the  mind,  the  conscience,  the  judgment,  the  reason 
ings,  the  religion,  the  human  and  animal  feelings,  the  com 
prehension  of  the  rights,  obligations,  and  duties  of  a  man  of 
a  citizen,  of  a  member  of  society,  as  it  has  permeated  those 
devoted  to  its  growth  and  preservation ; — in  one  word,  •  his 
modern  American  slavery  differs  wholly  from  what,  under 
a  similar  name,  has  prevailed  during  past  ages  in  As'u  OP 
Europe.  It  bears  no  resemblance  to  the  slavery  of  a  iti- 
quity,  nor  to  the  slavery  and  serfdom  known  in  Europe. 
From  the  legendary  or  historical  origin  of  society  in  the 
remotest  antiquity,  from  the  primitive  formation  of  nations 
and  empires  in  the  East,  down  to  Greece,  Home  and  nsod- 
ern  Europe,  never  has  slavery  been  made  the  paramount 
condition  and  question  of  social  structure,  of  political  md 
domestic  economy.  Nowhere  has  slavery  so  fully  over 
loaded  and  absorbedwie  political  atmosphere  as  in  the 
American  Commonwealth.  Nowhere  does  its  hideous 
spectre  face  the  investigator,  the  observer,  on  every  slop, 
in  every  political  move,  development  or  complication. 
Nowhere  has  slavery  been  the  source,  the  reason  or  the 
occasion  for  struggles  between  states,  friendly  or  inimical. 
Never  has  it  formed  the  main  attraction  for  obtaining 
the  supreme  power,  or  has  it  been  the  final  object  for  the 
direction  of  the  internal  and  external  affairs  of  a  nation. 
The  conquerors  of  the  past,  from  the  mythical  Nirnrod  to 
the  last  of  the  Roman  Emperors,  those  who  tower  over 
the  history  of  European  nations,  did  not  levy  wars  and 
imbrue  the  earth,  did  not  overthrow  empires,  subduing 
nations  and  territories,  for  the  sake  of  extending  domes 
tic  and  municipal  slavery.  In  all  times,  in  all  nations, 
in  all  religions,  in  all  theories,  slavery  has  been  cons  id- 


SLAVERY.  171 

ered  as  a  painful  sore  in  the  social  body  and  organism ; 
for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  race,  slavery  is 
hailed  as  the  substance  of  all  human,  social,  and  political 
relations. 

Not  in  the  anti-slavery  or  abolitionist  literature,  not 
in  the  various  anti-slavery  utterances  and  manifestations, 
did  I  study  and  become  acquainted  with  American  slavery. 
That  literature  is  wholly  unknown  to  me,  as  are  personally 
unknown  the  foremost  leaders  of  the  abolition  party.  I 
have  scarcely  ever  been  present  at  any  abolition  or  even 
anti-slavery  lecture,  oration  or  meeting;  and  never  has 
slavery  formed  a  subject  of  my  conversations  with  Theo 
dore  Parker,  Sumner,  Phillips,  or  any  of  the  persons  to 
whom  I  have  been  attracted  by  a  congenial  turn  of  mind 
and  feeling,  by  similar  convictions,  studies  and  pursuits. 
Mr,  Calhoun's  Works  and  Speeches  have  been  the  object  of 
my  conscientious  study.  As  far  as  possible  I  have  tried  to 
master  the  pro-slavery  literature.  Political  speeches,  statis 
tical,  philosophical,  historical,  economical,  pro-slavery  dis 
quisitions,  sermons,  orations,  tracts,  reasonings,  justifica 
tions,  defences,  explanations,  are  the  sources  in  which  I 
have  studied  American  slavery.  The  legislative  enact 
ments,  the  laws  of  the  slavery  States,  the  pro-slavery  press 
South  and  North,  the  actions  and  tone  of  political  men, 
have  been  for  me  the  exponents  of  the  working  of  slavery. 

Neither  in  any  way  do  I  intend  to  advocate  an  imme 
diate,  direct,  absolute  emancipation  of  the  enslaved  race. 
Such  a  violent  passage  from  a  domestic  state  on  which  re 
poses  the  economic  husbandry  of  the  southern  part  of  the 
Union,  and  with  which  agricultural  and  commercial  in 
terests  are  thus  variously  intertwined  and  connected  to 
gether,  a  passage  without  previous  preparatory  measures, 
without  a  gradual  transition,  would  produce  inexpressible 
evil,  ruin  and  destruction.  Even  for  the  enjoyment  of  or- 


172  AMERICA  AND  EUEOPE. 

derly  liberty  a  previous  apprenticeship  ought  to  be  made. 
The  more  so,  when  millions  of  men  are  to  be  reinstated  in 
rights,  after  having  been  for  generations  systematically  de 
graded  to  a  condition  scarcely  above  the  brutes,  which 
scarcely  recognizes  in  them  any  human  and  social  qua.i- 
ties.  But  if  the  disorder  is  not  at  once  curable,  its  corro 
sive  character  and  influence  ought  the  more  to  be  exposed. 

Reason,  religion,  morality,  knowledge,  study,  the  sci 
ences,  history,  economy,  the  social,  domestic  and  family 
relations,  all  converge  to  one  focus.  All  are  valued  only 
so  far  as  they  authorize  or  justify  slavery,  in  the  conception 
and  appreciation  of  its  apostles,  supporters,  and  disciples. 
Its  corrosion  gnaws  equally  at  the  products  of  mental  and 
material  labor,  apd  the  intellectual  domain  is  blighted  by 
its  theories  in  the  same  degree  as  the  earth's  surface.  Tl  is 
mental  distortion  strikes  not  only  individuals,  but  is  chron 
ically  rooted  in  generations,  and  thus  stretches  far  out 
into  the  future.  The  normal  healthy  state  of  reason  on 
the  subject  of  slavery  Is  affected  for  long  years  to  con  e. 
Thus  logic,  learning,  conscience  are  twisted,  put  on  t  le 
rack,  to  extort  from  them  evidences  in  favor  of  slavery. 
Unwillingly  one  touches  and  stirs  this  mental  and  intel 
lectual  putrefaction. 

The  African  race  is  doomed  to  eternal  slavery,  main 
tain  the  theorists  of  bondage  5  and  this,  they  assert,  is 
proved  by  the  inferiority  of  that  race,  by  its  historical  in 
significance  throughout  the  whole  existence,  throughout 
the  whole  history  of  the  human  family. 

But  the  African  kept  in  bondage  in  America,  was  not 
conquered  by  his  present  master  on  his  own  soil.  The 
African  was  sold  to  the  white  man  into  slavery  as  a  victim, 
as  a  prisoner  of  war,  by  another  victorious  African.  In  the 
same  way  slavery  has  been  established  and  maintained 
throughout  the  world,  from  the  remotest  times.  All  the 


SLAVERY.  173 

races  and  tribes  of  Asia  and  Europe,  for  long  centuries, 
have  thus  had  their  periods  of  slavery ;  all  were  conquered, 
and  the  prisoners  of  war,  nay  often  whole  cities  and  dis 
tricts,  were  sold  by  the  victors  into  slavery.  And  from 
these  facts  and  partial  events,  which  have  occurred  re 
peatedly,  the  conclusion  might  have  been  drawn  that  the 
white  race,  or  some  of  its  branches,  have  been  at  those  re 
mote  epochs  likewise  doomed  by  an  absolute  law  to  slavery. 

The  destinies,  the  qualities,  the  mental  capacities  of 
the  African  race,  in  equity  as  well  as  in  logic,  cannot  be 
comprehended,  judged,  and  appreciated  from  the  part  of  it 
which  is  kept  in  bondage,  transformed  into  chattels  on  this 
continent.  Those  are  debased  by  slavery,  and  thus  find 
themselves  not  only  in  an  abnormal  state,  but  in  one  which 
at  once  destroys  manhood  and  the  mental  capacities. 
Slavery  forcibly  reduces  them  to  a  condition  far  inferior 
to  that  of  the  animals.  Not  from  crippled  nature  can  be 
drawn  the  criteria  of  its  power. 

If  the  absolute  mental  inferiority  of  the  African  race 
should  be  even  an  incontestable  fact,  established  by  the 
history  of  this  branch  of  the  human  family,  there  are  many 
reasons  for  which  this  inferiority  ought  to  be  considered 
as  transient  and  not  definite.  Those  who  admit  the  aims 
and  the  direct  interference  of  God  in  the  management  of 
human  affairs,  ought  not  to  have  left  unobserved  the  fol 
lowing  facts.  According  to  their  creed,  God  distributed 
men  over  the  earth,  and  assigned  to  races,  families,  tribes, 
various  and  distinct  continents  and  regions.  In  this  dis 
tribution,  he  has  given  to  the  black  race  for  their  special 
use  a  great  and  rich  continent.  For  uncounted  ages  the 
other  races,  above  all  the  white  one,  either  Semitic  or  Ja 
phetic,  or  Indo-European,  have  attempted  to  conquer  and 
get  hold  of  Africa,  invading  it  on  all  sides ;  and  still  this 
invasion  remains  limited  mostly  to  the  outskirts  of  that 


174:  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

part  of  the  globe.  Only  in  the  northern  strip  have  the 
invading  races  succeeded  in  getting  a  firm  footing,  in  es 
tablishing  themselves  definitively.  The  European  tak<s 
hold  and  domiciliates  himself  over  the  earth,  penetrate  s 
and  subsists  in  all  climates,  nearly  under  the  poles  and 
under  the  tropics,  on  the  equatorial  line  of  Asia  anl 
America  5 — but  hitherto  Africa  is  his  tomb.  In  the  same 
latitudes  he  has  subdued  the  aborigines  of  Asia  and  Amer 
ica  ;  but  in  Africa  the  natives  as  well  as  the  soil  resist 
him.  Nature  or  providence  seems  to  watch  jealously  ovc  r 
Africa  and  say  to  the  European,  "  Do  not  penetrate  here 
under  pain  of  death."  The  aborigines  of  the  American, 
continent,  the  Australians,  the  Polynesians,  and  other 
primitive  occupants  of  various  points  of  the  globe,  disaj  - 
pear,  melt  before  the  advancing  European,  before  the 
white  race.  The  African  preserves  and  maintains  hi 3 
rights,  his  patrimony.  If  God  therefore  husbands  the  de,-- 
tinies  of  races,  then  this  impenetrability  of  Africa,  this  ii  - 
destructibility  of  its  inhabitants,  is  not  accidental ; — it  is 
the  result  of  higher  designs,  inaccessible  to  man's  penetra 
tion.  Time' will  disclose  them.  Time  will  draw  asidi 
some  of  the  folds  of  the  curtain  which  veils  the  future  des 
tinies  of  the  human  family.  History  has  in  its  recesses 
inexhaustible  events  and  apparitions.  Allusion  has  al 
ready  been  made  to  the  cardinal  historical  law,  that  of  the 
successive  appearance  and  development  of  races,  families, 
nations,  and  states.  The  future  of  the  African  race  niay 
be  protected  by  that  law.  The  blacks  are  now,  and  have 
been,  as  it  is  commonly  maintained,  for  countless  centuries 
brutes  and  savages.  But  what  is  this  period  even  of  forty 
centuries  in  the  infinite  course  of  the  ages  ?  Thirty,  ami 
even  twenty  centuries  ago,  portions  of  the  Celts,  Germans, 
Scandinavians,  Saxons,  who  made  human  sacrifices  to  their 
deities,  were  in  a  state  not  very  different  from  that  of  the 


SLAVERY.  175 

Africans.  They  drank  from  the  skulls  of  their  enemies ; 
some  Caledonian  tribes  were  anthropophagi,  and  all  of 
them  were  savages,  murderers,  enslaving  each  other,  pi 
rates,  and  robbers.  It  may  be  doubted  if  the  African 
tribes  surpass  all  others  in  savagery,  through  which  the 
human  race  passed,  previous  to  appearing  in  history,  pre 
vious  to  entering  in  part  on  a  new  and  superior  stage. 
Italy  was  once  inhabited  by  anthropophagi.  Two  thou 
sand  years  ago  darkness  prevailed  over  Germany,  over 
the  north  of  Europe ;  and  two  thousand  years  hence  Africa 
may  probably  shine  with  civilization. 

Those  who  see  in  the  Scriptures  something  more  than 
a  fragment  of  the  oldest  historical  records,  deduce  from 
the  progeny  of  Ham  the  whole  African  or  black  race. 
But  the  same  scriptural  records  establish,  and  the  primi 
tive  legendary  recollections  of  the  East  confirm  the  fact, 
that  these  descendants  of  Ham  founded  the  first  empires 
and  cities,  and  thus,  it  can  be  said,  originated  polity  and 
civilization.  The  Hamites  or  Cushites  extended  over 
Asia  Minor,  Syria,  Persia,  along  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the 
Indian  peninsula.  So  speak  myths,  analogy,  and  the  roots 
of  names  of  places  and  ancient  cities,  and  the  most  remote 
traditions.  Nimrod  and  his  progeny  were  Hamites,  and 
around  the  mouth  of  the  Tigris,  of  the  Euphrates,  down  to 
that  of  the  Indus,  originally  dwelt  the  black,  or,  as  now 
called,  the  African  brotherhood.  The  Persian  Gulf  was 
called  in  remote  antiquity  the  Ethiopian  Sea.  There  the 
Cushite  ruled  over  the  whites  and  intermixed  with  them ; 
und  the  great  Eastern  founder  of  the  first  empire,"  whom  the 
dim  Eastern  and  Persian  legends  call  Zohack,  was  in  all 
probability  at  the  utmost  a  mulatto,  Semiramide,  his 
mother,  being  of  the  white,  then  the  subjugated  stock. 
This  immense  empire  was  subsequently  overthrown,  con 
quered  and  superseded  by  men  descending  from  the  south- 


176  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

ern  slopes  of  the  Paropamisian  Range,  now  Hindoo-Rosh 
or  Himmalaya,  from  the  table-lands  of  Iran,  and  bringing 
with  them  in  the  conquered  regions  their  Pehlvi  and  San 
scrit  language,  the  mother  of  all  European  dialects.  Those 
conquerors  were  the  Indo-Europeans,  the  common  ancestry 
of  the  European  nations.  In  times  so  remote  as  hardly  to 
be  reached  by  positive  chronology,  this  first  conquest  is  to 
be  discerned.  These  Arrians  subdued  nations  living  along 
the  Euphrates  and  the  Indus,  nations  -already  enjoying 
culture  and  civilization,  while  the  invaders  were  savago 
hordes.  The  Chinese  records  mention  this  event,  and 
their  testimony  confirms  the  physiological  differences  oi 
the  two  races.  They  call  the  Indo-Europeans  or  ArriaiiM 
horse-faced,  on  account  of  the  oval  form  of  their  face 
The  Cushites  who  inhabited  the  slopes  of  Himmalaya 
along  the  Indus,  and  whom  the  Arrians  invaded,  are  callet. 
by  the  Chinese  the  monkey-faced.  The  Mongolian  or 
round-faced,  or,  as  others  call  them,  Turanians,  aided  tho 
Arrians  in  their  conquest.  These  Chinese  records  coin 
cide  with  the  remotest  Persian  traditions. 

The  Cushites  were  likewise  the  inhabitants  of  the: 
Nile,  as  were  the  Ethiopians.  The  ancient  Egyptians 
were  not  of  Semitic  origin,  nor  does  their  language  or  civi 
lization  connect  them  with  any  of  the  aboriginal  Asiatic 
races.  The  descendants  of  the  Egyptian  colonists  planted 
in  Kolchis  by  Sesostris  or  Ramses,  preserved  for  long 
generations  the  characteristics  of  the  African  race,  dark 
complexion,  and  black,  crisped  hair.  The  kings  of  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  dynasty  have  a  decided  negro 
type,  as  shown  in  the  statues  of  Tutmes  III.  and  Ameno- 
phis  III.  preserved  in  the  British  Museum  in  London. 
Besides,  the  testimony  of  Herodotus  is  paramount  for  me 
to  all  others,  and  every  modern  historical  discovery  and 
research  always  confirms  the  veracity,  the  authority  of  the 


SLAVERY.  177 

father  of  history.  And  Herodotus  says  "  that  the  Egyp 
tians  were  black,  and  had  short,  crisped  hair,  and  that  the 
skulls  of  the  Egyptians  were  by  far  thicker  than  those  of 
the  Persians ;  that  they  could  scarcely  be  broken  by  a  big 
stone,  while  a  Persian  skull  could  be  broken  by  a  pebble." 
All  these  characteristics  mark  principally  the  African  or 
the  Negro  race.  Subsequently  the  continual  influx  of 
Asiatics  and  Europeans,  as  was  observed  by  Volney,  might 
have  modified  or  changed  the  populations  of  Egypt,  and 
produced  a  mongrel  creation.*  Under  the  Persian  kings 
of  the  lineage  of  Achaemenes,  blacks  as  ministers,  sa 
traps,  ruled  and  exercised  a  powerful  influence  over  the 
great  Persian  empire.  A  black  eunuch,  Bagoas,  put  on 
the  Persian  throne  Darius  Codomannus,  vanquished  by 
Alexander.  A  black,  Batis,  governor  of  Graza,  was  the 
only  one  who,  by  his  military  skill  and  courage,  defeated 
some  time  and  arrested  the  conquering  career  of  Alexan 
der,  the  greatest  military  leader  of  past  or  modern  times,  f 

The  predestination  of  the  African  race  to  eternal 
slavery  is  based  in  pro-slavery  theories  on  the  fact,  that 
the  African  populations  are  enslaved  on  their  own  soil. 
But  such  has  been  the  lot  at  various  epochs  of  nearly  all 

*  Numbers  of  Jews  have  the  greatest  resemblance  to  the  American 
mulattoes.  Sallow  carnation  complexion,  thick  lips,  crisped  black 
hair.  Of  all  the  Jewish  population  scattered  over  the  globe,  one 
fourth  dwells  in  ancient  Poland.  I  am  therefore  well  acquainted  with 
their  features.  On  my  arrival  in  this  country  I  took  every  light-co 
lored  mulatto  for  a  Jew.  Could  not  these  Jewish  mulattoes  have  de 
scended  from  some  crossing  between  the  Jews  and  the  Egyptians  at 
a  time  previous  to  the  Exodus  ? 

f  Alexander  was  superior  even  to  Napoleon  in  foresight,  as  well  as 
in  having  won  not  only  pitched  battles,  but  taken  by  siege  cities 
whose  fortifications  were  by  nature  and  art  the  strongest  known,  of 
their  kind.  Napoleon,  with  the  exception  of  Toulon,  never  directed 
the  siege  of  a  fortress. 
8* 


178  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

the  other  races  on  the  earth,  and  above  all  in  Europe. 
They  likewise,  as  are  now  the  Negro  tribes,  were  for  gene 
rations  and  centuries  kept  in  bondage  by  rulers  and  masters 
of  their  own  kind,  or  by  others. conquering  and  subduing 
them.  So,  after  the  overthrow  of  the  lloman  Empire,  the 
populations  of  Italy,  Gallia,  Spain,  were  enslaved  by  the 
conquerors.  Slavery  existed  among  the  German  races, 
among  the  Anglo-Saxons  before  and  after  they  conquered 
Britain.  Very  likely  the  greatest  part  of  the  ancestry 
of  the  settlers  and  actual  slaveholders  were  once  slaves, 
and  wore  for  generations  the  iron  collar,  with  the  name  of 
their  Saxon — kindred  in  blood — masters ;  or  as  boors  and 
villeins  were  treated  with  the  same  cruel  contempt  by  the 
Norman  conquerors,  as  the  blacks  are  treated  here  by 
those  descendants  of  once  oppressed  serfs.  History  does 
not  generally  sustain  the  pretensions  of  the  southern  oli 
garchs  to  their  descent  from  Cavaliers.  For  centuries  the 
nobility  of  all  the  European  nations  considered  as  impure 
and  contaminating  the  b]£>od,  any  connection  or  alliance 
with  burghers  or  peasants,  to  whom,  according  to  Euro 
pean  classifications,  belong  the  white  inhabitants  of  the 
United  States.  A  southerner  cannot  feel  more  repul 
sion  to  alliance  with  a  black,  than  was  felt  once  by  a 
haughty  nobleman,  careful  of  his  purity  of  blood,  to  an 
affinity  or  connection  with  an  ignoble  family.  There  still 
exist  many  -aristocratical  families  in  Europe  who  nourish 
this  prejudice. 

The  African  despots  sell  their  subjects  or  their  prison 
ers  into  slavery.  But,  as  has  been  already  mentioned, 
such  was  the  custom  from  uncounted  ages  in  the  ancient 
and  in  the  modern  European  world.  The  Elector  of  Hesse 
sold  to  England  his  subjects  to  fight  against  America.  Is 
it  to  be  inferred  that  Hessians  are  predestined  to  eternal 
bondage  ? 


SLAVERY.  179 

To  the  enslaved  race  on  this  continent  are  denied  the 
higher  faculties  of  the  mind  and  of  the  soul,  which  are 
common  to  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  globe.  If  it  should 
be  really  so — which  however  is  not  the  case — it  is  the 
bondage  which  has  crushed,  rooted  out  or  nipped  in  the 
bud  all  the  germs  of  those  faculties.  The  mental  inferi 
ority  of  the  African  does  not  differ  much  from  the  inferior 
ity  in  which  groped  and  lingered  all  the  other  races  and 
families,  before  their  turn  came  to  issue  from  darkness. 
The  African  has  latent  all  the  powers  with  which  man  is 
endowed.  If  those  germs  are  not  active,  or  are  inferior 
in  intensity  and  expansion,  nevertheless  they  exist.  The 
African  speaks,  thinks,  believes,  loves,  hates,  reasons,  com 
prehends,  and  therefore  he  is  capable  of  being  initiated 
into  a  higher  life.  However  distant  the  hour  of  initiation 
may  be,  strike  it  will  for  the  African  race.  Impartial 
scientific  men,  who  do  not  theorize  for  the  support  or  justi 
fication  of  slavery,  who  have  investigated  and  observed  the 
African  race  on  its  own  ground — all  these  thinkers,  physi 
ologists  and  pyschologists,  recognize  in  the  blacks  the 
germs  of  all  the  faculties  of  mind  and  heart,  only  differently 
proportioned  from  those  in  the  Caucasian.  Some  recog 
nize  in  them  a  greater  intensity  of  affection  than  in  the 
white  race.  Not  one  classifies  them  on  that  account — as 
is  done  in  pro-slavery  science — as  an  intermediate  link  be 
tween  brutes  and  man.  Even  in  their  degradation  by 
American  slavery,  the  Negroes  alone  modify  to  a  certain 
degree  the  gloominess  of  the  country.  The  Negroes  alone 
have  minstrelsy  and  melodies  of  peculiar  intonation  and 
beauty.  They  alone  re-echo  American  original  songs, 
which  are  adopted  as  national  by  the  white  race.* 

*  When  a  foreigner  asks  and  inquires  about  national  melodies,  he 
is  unanimously  directed  to  hear  the  so  called  negro  melodies. 


180  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

Further,  like  the  white  man,  the  African  loves  his 
native  land,  fights  for  its  independence,  resists  as  he  can 
invasion — although  fearful  odds  are  against  him.  The 
African,  degraded  and  enslaved,  loves  liberty,  understands 
how  to  conquer  it,  as  was  shown  at  St.  Domingo.  The 
transition  to  a  better  social  state  on  that  island  is  seem 
ingly  slow.  But  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  from  what  a 
state  of  slavish  abjection  the  black  race  there  emerged ; 
that  scarcely  a  second  generation  is  in  possession  of  human 
rights  ;  that  after  the  conquest  of  independence,  the  eman 
cipated  have  to  make  a  thorough  and  most  detailed  ap 
prenticeship  in  order  to  become  men  again  ;  that  their  con 
tact  with  civilization  was  and  is  difficult,  and  often  im 
possible  ;  and  finally  that  Europe,  for  centuries  the  hearth 
and  laboratory  of  civilization,  has  still  in  its  bosom  masses 
that  are  nearly  as  ignorant  and  degraded  as  the  Haytians. 
Slow  and  toilsome  is  the  work  of  humanization.  In  the 
English  West  Indies  the  work  of  emancipation  was  not 
the  result  of  violence,  bloodshed  and  destruction,  but  was 
brought  forth  in  an  orderly  way,  by  tuition.  The  internal 
economy  of  these  islands  became  recast,  large  plantations 
were  divided  into  small  farms.  Very  naturally  this  trans 
formation  for  a  few  years  must  have  reacted  on  the  culture 
of  the  soil,  and  lessened  its  production.  The  emancipated 
were  to  make  the  mental  and  material  apprenticeship  for 
their  new  condition.  No  apprenticeship  whatever  is  im 
mediately  productive.  But  already  the  new  generation, 
grown  under  liberty,  compensates  for  the  lost  time  and 
for  the  losses  occasioned  by  the  economical  revulsion. 
Recent  reports  and  statistics  show  that  the  culture  and 
the  productivity  of  the  British  West  Indies  are  contin 
ually  on  the  increase,  as  is  the  prosperity  of  the  newly 
formed  free,  and  therefore  laborious  men. 

Carelessness,  heedlessness,  want  of  foresight,  laziness, 


SLAVERY.  181 

disposition  to  lie,  and  all  the  like  vices,  attributed  to  the 
black  race  in  America,  even  theft,  are  not  inherent  in  the 
African  nature,  but  their  germs  are  to  be  found  in  human 
ity  in  general.  Slavery,  degradation,  developes  them; 
they  are  the  rich  manure  which  propitiates  an  exuberant 
growth;  and  the  like  vices  have  been  and  are  common  to 
the  white  slaves  and  serfs,  and  to  otherwise  degraded,  al 
though  even  free  and  independent,  but  corrupted  mem 
bers  of  the  best  cultivated  society. 

The  principal  psychological  inferiority  attributed  to 
the  African  race  is  based  on  the  assertion  that  it  never 
could  elevate  itself  to  a  spiritual  conception  of  Deity,  and 
that  fetichism  prevails  in  Africa.  But  fetichism  under 
various  kinds  was  more  or  less  known  to  other  races,  even 
to  families  of  the  Caucasian  race.  In  primitive  races, 
fetichism  is  always  the  forerunner  of  polytheism  and  of  the 
worship  of  nature.  And  have  not  for  centuries  the  most 
spiritual  religious  conceptions  been  debased  and  stained 
by  fetichism  in  the  midst  of  Europe  ? 

The  physiological  differences,  brought  forward  by 
pro-slavery  science,  as  conclusive  of  the  absolute  infe 
riority  of  the  African  race,  are  not  sustained  by  truly 
scientific  and  disinterested  men.  Owen,  Flourens,  -Pritch- 
ard,  Miller,  Bachmann,  Humboldt,  and  a  host  of  other 
genuine  savants,  find  in  the  physical  conformation  and 
structure  of  the  negro  as  well  as  in  the  laws  of  hybrid- 
ity,  quite  different  phenomena,  and  no  such  cardinal  con 
trasts  to  the  white  man,  as  the  pro-slavery  physiologists 
assert.  The  same  researches,  observations  and  analogies 
give,  therefore,  different  results,  according  as  they  serve 
impartial  science,  or  become  diverted  for  a  peculiar  pur 
pose.  The  naturalist,  St.  Hilaire,  maintains  that  the 
white  man,  equally  with  the  negro,  in  the  animal  ascend 
ing  concatenation,  proceeds  from  the  ape.  But  even  the 


182  AMERICA   AND    EUROPE. 

sense-sharpening  instruments  seem  to  work  diversely  in 
Europe  and  in  America.  Thus  the  microscope  represents 
different  minutiae  there  and  here.  In  the  United  States 
the  microscope  discovers  that  the  negro  is  covered  with 
wool,  while  the  lens  of  a  Haenle,  the  founder  of  micro 
scopical  anatomy,  shows  beyond  doubt  that  the  hair  of  the 
white  man  and  that  of  the  negro  is  of  one  and  the  same 
kind.  The  pro-slavery  microscope  distorts  or  changes  the 
form  of  the  cellular  tissues  of  the  muscles,  the  epidermis  of 
the  blacks,  while  the  truly  scientific  instrument  shows  that 
the  black  and  white  tissues  are  alike.  Here  it  is  decided 
that  the  pigment  which  darkens  the  skin  of  the  African  is 
a  speciality  to  him;  but  Simon,  a  celebrated  microscopic 
anatomist  in  Europe,  together  with  other  men  of  science, 
demonstrates  beyond  doubt,  that  the  dark  circle  surround 
ing  the  nipple  of  a  white  woman  contains  precisely  the 
same  pigment  which  universally  colors  the  skin  of  the 
negro. 

The  physical  as  well  a^psychological  differences  which 
exist,  are  not  of  such  weight  as  to  fatally  reduce  the  Afri 
can  race  to  an  irredeemable  inferiority.  But  should  even 
this  be  the  case ;  on  no  human,  moral,  or  social  grounds 
can  it  be  justifiable  to  depress  the  race  still  more ;  to  de 
base  it ;  to  deprive  it,  by  slavery  and  by  unparalleled  sys 
tematic  oppression,  of  the  feebler  attributes  of  manhood 
which  it  has  received  from  nature.  If  even  the  negro 
should  be  unable  to  use  his  powers  with  the  same  vigor  as 
the  white  man,  he  is  not  therefore  to  be  transformed  into 
a  chattel. 

But  these  statements  and  assertions  remain  unsustain- 
ed  by  science  or  by  history,  which  shows  that  the  branches 
of  the  Hamitic  race  were  the  first  founders  of  states,  of 
polity,  and  of  cities,  and  thus  the  first  inventors  of  useful 
and  mechanic  arts,  without  which  no  culture  of  the  soil, 


SLAVERY.  183 

no  construction  of  walls  and  dwellings,  was  possible.  The 
cardinal  distinction  and  pre-eminence  of  the  Caucasian, 
Indo-European,  or  Japhetian  race,  consists  not  thus  abso 
lutely  in  the  power  of  invention,  or  initiation.  This  fac 
ulty  is  the  lot  of  the  Asiatics  among  the  descendants  of 
Shein  and  of  Ham,  by  whom  the  Japhetian,  the  Arrian, 
was  initiated  into  the  rudiments  of  material  and  mental 
civilization.  The  peculiarity  of  the  European  consists 
primarily  in  the  boundless  power  of  expansion,  in  the  im 
pulse,  the  inclination  to  sow  to  the  right  and  to  the  left, 
to  scatter  and  implant  his  ideas,  to  extend  his  activity  in 
all  directions.  Easily  impressible,  and  urged  by  inward 
impulse  as  well  as  by  external  events,  more  sensitive  to 
their  action  than  the  other  members  of  the  human  family, 
the  European  became  the  anima  movens  of  the  globe. 
But  he  disavows  those  of  his  race  who  on  this  superiority 
base  the  right  to  transform  into  eternal  brutism  their  less 
fortunate,  or  even  their  apparently  less  endowed  fellow- 
creatures. 

The  absolute  necessity  in  America  of  maintaining  the 
colored  population  in  bondage  is  supported  by  an  axiom, 
very  unskilfully  twisted  out  of  general  history.  It  is  as 
serted  that  whenever  a  superior  race  comes  in  contact  with 
an  inferior  one,  the  second  must  inevitably  become  enslaved 
by  the  former.  Never  was  a  greater  fallacy  brought 
forward.  Its  concoctors  are  bound  above  all  to  clearly 
establish  wherein  genuine  superiority  consists.  Whether 
it  is  civility,  advanced  culture,  and  diversified  mental  and 
material  development,  that  constitute  a  superiority,  or  only 
daring,  physical  force,  warlike  propensities,  military  or 
ganization  and  discipline.  Nearly  all  the  conquests,  and 
thus  the  contacts,  of  different  races  recorded  in  history, 
were  made  by  nations  inferior  in  civility,  by  mere  barba 
rians,  over  others  more  developed.  The  Medes  and  Per- 


184  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

eians  of  Cyrus  were  far  inferior  in  every  kind  of  culture 
to  the  Lydians,  Assyrians,  Egyptians,  and  all  the  other 
flourishing  states  of  Asia  Minor.  These  states  were  sub 
dued.  The  prisoners  of  war,  the  populations  of  cities  taken 
by  storm,  became  transformed  or  were  sold  into  slavery ; 
but  nowhere  have  whole  races  or  nations  been  subjected 
to  domestic  bondage.  The  Macedonians  of  Philip  and 
Alexander  were  thorough  barbarians,  when  they  subdued 
Greece,  and  they  did  not  enslave  the  Greeks,  but  on  the 
contrary,  they  were  civilized,  grecised,  by  them.  Nei 
ther  were  the  Romans  of  the  first  centuries  after  the  found 
ing  of  the  city  superior  in  culture  to  the  Samnites,  the 
Etrurians,  and  the  Greek  population  of  Italy.  Having 
extended  their  domination  over  the  peninsula,  the  Romans 
did  not  make  chattels  of  the  Italiots  by  the  wholesale. 
The  Roman  conquest  in  Gaul,  as  over  the  world  as  then 
known,  was  not  for  establishing  domestic  bondage  over  all 
the  various  subdued  races.  The  number  of  slaves  increas 
ed  principally  by  the  warlike  process  above  pointed  out. 

When  the  races  of  the  North  overran  and  destroyed 
the  Roman  Empire,  they  were  barbarians.  These  invad 
ers  to  be  sure  enslaved  the  populations  on  whose  necks  they 
established  their  dominion,  more  generally  than  any  for 
mer  conquerors  recorded  in  history.  As  a  race,  the  Ger 
mans  issued  from  one  and  the  same  root  as  those  whom 
they  enslaved.  They  had  the  same  origin,  whether  con 
sidered  as  descendants  of  the  Japhetians,  of  the  Caucasians, 
or  of  the  Indo-Europeans.  The  enslavement  was  the  re 
sult  of  events,  and  not  of  any  absolute  law  ruling  and  reg 
ulating  the  destinies  of  the  human  kind.  And,  as  it  has 
been  pointed  our  in  another  chapter,  all  these  northern 
conquerors  in  the  course  of  time  became  humanized,  civil 
ized,  absorbed,  assimilated,  recast  by  those  among  whom 
they  settled,  and  over  whom  they  ruled.  The  character 


SLAVERY.  185 

of  the  French,  Spaniards,  and  Italians,  has  no  traits  in 
common  with  that  of  the  Germans.  The  Normans  con 
quered  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  partly  enslaved  them,  al 
though  both  Normans  and  Saxons  descended  originally 
from  the  Scandinavians.  And  the  original  character  of 
these  sea-rovers  was  almost  completely  changed  by  contact 
with  the  civility  of  France,  and  with  the  nations  among 
whom  they  settled.  These  Normans,  although  considered 
by  some  as  forming  a  superior  race,  and  appeared  as  such 
in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries,  mixed,  blended,  and 
assimilated  with  peculiar  facility  with  the  populations 
among  which  they  established  themselves;  and  thus  in 
new  conditions  and  conjunctures  soon  changed  their  origi 
nal  character.  What  a  difference  between  the  English 
and  French  Norman !  The  nobility  of  Sicily  and  Naples 
descending  from  Tancred,  Robert  Guiscard,  and  their 
followers,  in  the  next  generations  lost  nearly  all  traits  of 
resemblance  to  the  Normans  of  France,  and  to  those  of 
England  under  the  Plantagenets.  The  fierce  Arab-Ma 
hometans  were  modified  by  the  Syrians  in  Bagdad,  Aleppo, 
Damascus,  etc.,  as  well  as  by  the  Moors  in  Africa.  The 
Tartars,  as  conquerors,  were  absorbed  by  the  Chinese; 
and,  as  races,  both  belong  to  the  Mongolian  stock. 

Few,  very  few,  are  the  contrary  examples,  where  the 
barbarian  conqueror  resisted  the  absorbing  influence  of  the 
more  civilized  conquered,  and  preserved  over  him  the  ab 
solute  sway  of  physical  force.  And  in  such  cases  oppres 
sion  was  never  transformed  into  absolute  domestic  slavery. 
The  Turks  are  the  most  salient  illustrations  of  this  in 
their  relations  with  the  Greeks,  Slavi,  Armenians,  and 
other  Christian  populations.  But  will  any  one  maintain 
that  the  Turkomans  are  a  superior  race  to  the  others  ? 
The  religious  hostility  of  the  Moslems  to  Christianity 


186  AMEEICA  AND  EUROPE. 

alone  placed  an  insurmountable  barrier,  and  prevented 
amalgamation  and  relaxation  of  oppression. 

Should  the  historical  evidences  be  all  in  favor  of  the 
pro-slavery  axiom,  even  then  they  could  have  no  bearing 
whatever  on  the  relations  of  the  white  with  the  colored 
man  in  the  United  States.  The  European  came  in  con 
tact  on  this  continent  not  with  the  African,  but  with  the 
Indian.  It  is  therefore  the  Indian  who  was  to  be  enslaved, 
if  that  fallacious  axiom  has  any  meaning.  The  African 
was  imported  here  by  stealth,  by  robbery,  by  a  most  infa 
mous  traffic,  not  as  a  nation,  but  as  an  individual,  already 
a  victim  of  brute  force.  To  justify  and  logically  confirm 
their  theory,  the  advocates  of  this  axiom,  as  well  as  the  sup 
porters  of  American  slavery,  ought  to  fit  out  a  great  ex 
pedition  and  make  a  descent  upon  Africa,  meet  the  negro 
face  to  face,  conquer  him,  and  establish  their  beloved 
slavery  in  his  native  land. 

In  our  epoch  the  conquests  made  by  European  nations 
over  really  or  apparently  ^inferior  races  or  tribes,  and  the 
establishment  of  European  dominion  over  them,  is  not 
followed  by  domestic  slavery,  or  even  by  any  kind  of  serf 
dom  or  villanage.  France  does  not  enslave  the  Arabs 
and  Bedouins,  but  raises  them  to  civilized  life,  confers 
upon  them  equal  civil  rights  with  Frenchmen.  England, 
notwithstanding  the  bloody  fiscal  pressure  upon  the  Hin 
doos,  does  not  deprive  them  of  civil  rights  nor  of  culture, 
but  propagates  amongst  them  civilization,  erects  schools, 
and  treats  them  as  human  beings.  England  does  not  enslave 
the  Australians  or  the  Papuans,  nor  deprive  them  of  hu 
man  and  civil  rights.  Russia,  although  serfdom  prevails 
in  her  bosom,  does  not  extend  it  over  the  conquered  tribes, 
whether  settled  or  nomadic,  pastoral  or  roving.  And  thus, 
by  an  extraordinary  anomaly,  those  weaker,  inferior  popu- 


SLAVERY.  187 

lations  enjoy  more  human  rights  than  even  the  immense 
majority  of  the  domineering  race. 

In  this  sacrilegious  way  the  annals  of  our  race  are 
ransacked  to  bear  evidence  of  the  necessity  or  of  the  bless 
edness  of  slavery,  although  they  teach  on  every  page  that 
the  ancient  slavery  was  different  in  origin  and  in  principle 
from  the  American  bondage.  It  was  not  based  on  any 
physical  or  psychological  inferiority  or  difference  in  one 
race  that  was  doomed  to  serve  another,  but  it  resulted 
from  one  paramount  fact,  war  and  conquest.  The  Spar 
tans,  those  fierce  oligarchs  of  the  Grecian  world,  who  cul 
tivated  no  arts  whatever,  conquered  the  Helots,  the  de 
scendants  of  the  Pelasgi,  the  first  civilizers  of  Southern 
Europe,  and  not  at  all  an  inferior  race  to  the  Dorians. 
They  brutalized  their  victims  deliberately  and  purposely 
by  every  vice  and  crime,  and  above  all  by  fostering  intem 
perance  among  the  Helots,  to  keep  them  enslaved  more 
easily.  In  great  dangers  the  Spartans  bestowed  on  the 
Helots  the  right  of  citizenship.  Often  cognate  and  mostly 
kindred  races,  tribes  of  the  same  family  and  language, 
enslaved  each  other.  The  slaves  mentioned  in  the  Scrip 
tures  and  possessed  by  the  Jews,  were  of  the  same  Semitic 
race  as  the  Hebrews.  So  were  mostly  all  the  slaves  of  the 
ancient  nations,  often  their  previous  neighbors.  So  Greeks 
possessed  Greeks  as  slaves.  Plato  was  once  sold  into 
slavery.  Philip  of  Macedon  destroyed  thirty-two  Chalkidic 
cities,  and  sold  their  inhabitants  into  slavery.  Alexander, 
after  destroying  Thebes,  sold  all  the  population  into 
slavery,  and  the  purchasers  were  mostly  other  Beotians. 
kindred  of  the  Thebans.  So  Romans  made  slaves  when  at 
war  with  other  kindred  Italiot  populations.  At  one  time 
Roman  citizens  could  be  sold  into  slavery  by  their  credi 
tors.  And  yet  slavery  among  the  Romans  and  its  influence 


188  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

on  the  fate  of  the  Roman  republic,  form  the  principal 
pivots  on  which  American  slavery  is  theoretically  propped. 
The  power  of  the  Roman  master  was  absolute,  was  that 
of  life  and  death.  It  was  pitilessly  and  cruelly  exercised. 
But  absolute  and  tyrannical  was  the  power  of  the  Roman 
father  over  his  wife  and  over  his  children.  The  Romai] 
moral  tone  in  all  conditions  and  relations,  was  in  general 
stern  and  cruel.  The  Romans  did  not  consider  slavery  as 
a  social  corner-stone,  without  which  liberty  could  noi 
exist.  The  Roman  legist  who  resumed  in  short  sentences 
the  antique  sense  of  morality  and  justice,  calls  slavery  em 
phatically  a  state  contrary  to  nature — contra  naturam,  a^ 
did  before  him  Aristotle,  Plato,  and  others.  How  different 
from  our  southern  Papinians  and  Tribonians  !  The  ser 
vile  origin  of  the  manumitted  disappeared  at  the  farthest 
in  the  third  generation.  But  in  the  South  the  stain  if 
eternal.  The  material  interests  of  a  slave,  his  earnings  or 
peculium]  were  under  the  protection  of  the  Roman  prae 
tor.  Adrian,  the  Antonines  legislated  for  the  protectioi 
of  the  slaves.  The  Roman  law  punished  with  death  any 
one  who  unlawfully  enslaved  a  freeman.  Slaves  in  anti 
quity  were  not  grown,  bred  specially  for  the  market,  as 
is  the  case  in  Virginia  ;  the  masculine  by  far  outnumberiug 
the  feminine  slaves.  The  children  of  slaves  were  in 
structed  in  schools,  in  arts  and  sciences.  Slaves  have 
been  architects,  physicians,  authors,  actors.  Nearly  all 
the  monuments  which  have  survived  the  destructive  force 
of  time,  had  slaves  for  architects,  for  constructors.  Ac 
cording  to  some  historians,  Vitruvius,  whose  architectural 
writings  are  still  authority,  was  a  slave.  Many  Greek 
rhetoricians,  grammarians,  philosophers,  were  Roman 
slaves.  The  purest  moralist  of  antiquity,  Epictetus,  lived 
many  years  the  slave  of  a  bad  Roman  master.  And  shall 
any  body  assert  that  the  Greeks  were  an  inferior  race  ? 


SLAVERY.  189 

History  teaches  that  in  proportion  as  slavery  increased, 
the  spirit  of  ancient  Rome  became  faint.  With  the  ex 
tension  of  slavery,  the  free  yeomanry  -was  either  destroyed 
or  reduced  to  a  degraded  social  state,  like  that  of  the 
southern  free-white  laborers  and  small  cultivators.  Not 
slaves  but  Cincinnatus  himself  ploughed  his  farm,  when  the 
deputies  brought  him  the  news  of  his  election  by  his  fellow- 
citizens  to  the  dignity  of  a  dictator.  When  in  the  course 
of  time  the  soil  of  Rome  was  owned  by  wealthy  patricians, 
and  worked  all  over  with  slaves,  Rome  had  no  more  the 
Fabii,  the  Horatii  Codes,  the  ScaevolaD.  Roman  virtue 
vanished  before  slavery,  and  Roman  demoralization  went 
hand  in  hand  with  its  increase.  In  the  first  centuries  of 
the  republic — the  blossoming  period  of  Roman  virtue — 
slaves  were  made  in  war  alone  ;  and  if  the  prisoners  were 
not  ransomed,  then  hereditary  birth  in  bondage  constituted 
the  status  of  a  slave.  In  the  age  of  the  degeneration  of 
the  republic — in  those  of  the  dissolution  of  the  spirit  and 
laxity  of  the  laws,  the  husbandry  of  estates  by  slave 
labor  was  carried  out  by  systematic  hunting  for  men. 
What  for  America  was  Africa,  for  Rome  at  that  time  was 
Asia  Minor.  Pirates  or  slave-traders,  principally  from  the 
island  of  Crete  and  from  Cilicia,  stole  men  in  the  Greek 
Archipelago  and  around  the  eastern  and  southern  shores  of 
the  Mediterranean.  It  is  said  that  at  the  great  slave-mart 
of  Delos  (the  American  New-Orleans),  on  one  day  ten 
thousand  slaves  were  bought  and  sold. 

In  the  pagan  world,  divines,  moralists,  philosophers  and 
statesmen  did  not  exalt  slavery.  No  one  represented  it  as 
an  idyllic  state  of  society,  or  sang  its  praise  and  blessed 
ness.  Orations  and  speeches  were  not  made  to  the  Roman 
or  Greek  people  to  exalt  bondage.  Pliny,  Seneca,  Plu 
tarch  spoke  of  it  in  mild  and  extenuating  language. 

The  Roman  world  fell.     The  destruction  was  not  oc- 


190  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

casioned  by  the  relaxation  of  slavery — a  favorite  asserticn 
of  the  American  pro-slavery  philosophers.  On  the  con 
trary,  the  extension  of  slavery  was  an  efficient  and  primary 
cause,  among  many  secondary  causes,  of  the  downfall  of 
Rome.  Slavery  deprived  Italy  of  vigorous,  devoted,  intelli 
gent,  energetic  and  active  citizens.  Large  estates  worked  l;y 
slaves,  deteriorating  the  soil  and  its  culture,  reduced  tl  e 
population.  Poverty,  misery  was  at  the  basis,  and  abo\  e 
it  hovered  the  wealthy,  effeminate,  debased,  immoral  and 
luxurious  slaveholder.  The  amor  patrice  had  been  long 
consumed  to  cold  ashes.  The  most  unbounded  and  sordid 
egotism  filled  the  mind  and  the  heart  of  the  people. 

The  Roman  world  fell  because  a  new  light  rose  upon 
mankind,  a  light  which  the  ancient  pagan  religious  and 
social  institutions' could  not  stand.  Because  the  material 
ized  conception  of  God  and  man  was  to  give  way  before  a 
higher,  spiritual  one.  The  time  of  the  pagan  civilization, 
with  all  its  religious  and  social  ideas,  was  accomplished. 
The  human  race  received  a  new  password;  it  was  to  be 
impregnated  with  a  purer  and  subtler  essence.  A  new  anl 
loftier  order  was  to  prevail.  Higher  aspirations  were  to 
inspire  man,  and  the  past  was  to  be  blotted  out  or  changed. 
The  past  was  doomed  to  destruction.  The  idolatrous 
worship  of  the  living  Caesar  could  not  exist  by  the  side  of 
the  worship  of  the  crucified  Christ.  Rome  fell  because 
the  civis  Romanus,  the  highest  human  dignity  at  thai: 
time,  was  superseded  by  the  higher  one  of  civis  Chris- 
iianus,  which  signified  brotherhood,  love  and  self-denial. 
The  Roman  world  fell,  because  mankind  was  to  be  ini 
tiated  into  union,  and  could  not  move  further,  as  it  was 
forcibly  encompassed  in  material  unity.  The  individualism 
of  the  ancient  world  was  to  make  place  for  humanity. 

Slavery  survived  the  Roman  world,  maintains  south 
ern  philosophical  science,  and  European  Christian  nation^ 


SLAVERY.  191 

based  their  existence  upon  it.  The  most  superficial  in 
sight  into  history  shows  that  feudal  slavery  was  in  no  way 
considered  as  a  social  constructive  element. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Roman  Empire,  slaves  or  free, 
became  enslaved  by  the  new  conquerors.  The  conquered 
remained  attached  to  the  soil,  which  they  cultivated  for 
themselves  and  for  their  masters.  Villanage  went  hand 
in  hand  with  bondage.  They  could  not  be  detached  from 
the  earth.  They  also  preserved  the  right  of  family,  and 
families  were  not  separated.  At  the  commencement  of 
the'  mediaeval  epoch,  therefore,  slavery  did  not  possess 
this  fierce  feature  which  it  has  in  America.  The  con 
quered  were  not  sold  in  markets,  neither  could  the  master 
carry  his  slaves  into  any  other  region  or  land,  as  is  done 
by  the  American  planter  in  his  migrations  in  search  of  a 
better  and  virgin  soil. 

The  slave-trade  and  slave-markets  existed  at  that 
epoch  in  various  spots  of  Europe, — in  France,  above  all  in 
Lyons ;  in  various  cities  of  Italy,  especially  in  Venice  and 
Rome ;  and  in  some  cities  on  the  Baltic.  But  the  market 
able  slaves  were  exclusively  prisoners  of  war,  or  persons 
carried  away  by  depredator}^  invasions  of  the  Normans, 
Berbers  and  others.  In  the  South  and  the  West  of 
Europe  the  slave-trade  was  principally  supplied  by  prison 
ers  taken  from  the  Moors  in  Spain  and  other  Mahonaedans 
of  the  Mediterranean  shores,  and  in  the  East  and  North, 
by  those  made  by  the  Germans  among  various  Sclavic 
tribes  living  between  the  Baltic  and  the  Adriatic  Seas.  In 
the  thirteenth  century  this  traffic  in  slaves  wholly  disap 
peared  from  Europe.  Since  that  epoch  serfdom,  villanage 
likewise,  became  successively  softened.  In  royal  domains 
the  serfs  were  put  under  the  jurisdiction  of  common  tri 
bunals.  In  general  the  serfs  could  acquire  property,  liti 
gate,  appear  as  witnesses  in  civil  and  criminal  cases,  even 


192  AMERICA   AJSTD   EUROPE. 

against  their  own  masters.  Thus  Western  Europe  suc 
cessively  relieved  itself  from  this  curse,  and  history  teaches 
that,  in  proportion  as  serfdom,  villanage,  was  modified 
and  destroyed,  European  nations  emerged  out  of  darkness; 
culture,  arts,  industry,  commerce,  prosperity,  extended  in 
wider  and  wider  circles.  Not  in  slavery  was  concentrated 
the  patriotism,  the  honor  of  the  chivalry,  of  the  feudal 
knights.  In  the  epochs  of  the  most  direful  feudal  op 
pression,  the  master  hunting  an  escaped  serf  was  scorned 
and  nicknamed  a  man-hunter.  The  fugitive  serf,  if  he 
was  not  caught  in  the  lapse  of  a  year  and  one  day,  acquired 
his  liberty.  In  Italy,  and  above  all  in  Germany,  the  free 
cities  scattered  over  the  land  served  as  a  secure  refuge  for 
the  fugitives.  For  these  cities,  as  well  as  for  a  nobleman, 
to  deliver  up  one  of  these  fugitives  was  an  infamy. 
Knights  combated  rather  than  commit  such  a  felonious 
action.  Many  were  the  bloody  feuds  between  cities  and 
barons  that  were  occasioned  by  the  refusal  of  delivery. 
Nay,  if  a  fugitive,  once  admitted  into  the  refuge  of  a  city, 
was  caught  in  some  way  by  his  previous  master,  the  city 
considered  it  as  a  violation  of  her  rights  and  made  it 
an  occasion  for  war.  The  free  city  likewise  considered  it 
as  a  violation  of  her  territory  and  of  her  rights,  and 
avenged  it,  if  a  fugitive  serf  was  in  any  way  molested 
within  her  limits.  Woe  to  a  nobleman  who  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  offended  burghers.  In  the  city  of  Reval,  in 
Estonia,  a  city  once  belonging  to  the  Hanseatic  associa 
tion,  there  is  still  preserved  the  sword  with  which  one  of 
the  mightiest  barons  of  the  province  was  beheaded,  for  hav 
ing  carried  away  his  fugitive  serf  from  under  the  walls  of 
Reval. 

The  misery,  the  degradation  and  the  ignorance  of  the 
European  proletariat  is  held  up  in  comparison  by  the  de 
fenders  and  upholders  of  slavery,  with  what  they  call  the 


SLAVERY.  1 93 

happy  and  prosperous  condition  of  the  slaves.  True  it  is 
that  the  masses  of  the  daily  laborers  in  Europe  drag  out  an 
existence  full  of  desolation.  True  it  is  that  pauperism 
gnaws  at  the  core  of  European  society.  The  original  source 
of  this  evil  was  social.  It  dates  from  the  times  when 
slavery  *  serfdom,  villanage,  oppressed  the  masses.  Nowa 
days,  however,  the  cause  is  purely  economical.  It  results 
from  the  distorted  organization  and  combination  of  labor 
and  capital.  It  results  from  the  disproportion  in  remu 
neration  and  in  the  share  of  profits,  due  to  the  original  and 
immediate  creator  of  wealth ;  it  results  from  a  faulty  and 
imperfect  co-ordination  of  man,  and  of  his  intrinsic  powers, 
faculties  and  propensities.  True  it  is  likewise,  that  this 
deeply  rooted  disorder  is  powerfully  alimented  by  the  di 
vision  of  society  for  ages  into  castes  and  classes,  in  virtue 
of  which  there  are  accumulated  in  the  upper  social  strata 
various  dead-weights  and  drones,  turning  the  scales  on  one 
side,  absorbing  the  results  of  the  labor  of  the  mass  of  the 
people,  and  rendering  difficult  its  free  ascension  and  nor 
mal  expansion.  But  the  proletariat  is  not  a  distinct  race, 
decreed  by  those  above  it  to  an  eternal  degradation  and 
servitude  in  idea  and  in  fact,  or  retained  therein  by  laws 
as  well  as  by  brutal  force.  A  noble  or  any  other  once 
prosperous  person,  when  impoverished  and  destitute,  merges 
in  the  proletariat ;  he  wades  into  the  mire  of  pauperism. 
The  proletariat  reposes  not  on  the  principle  that  it  is  an 
indelible  stain,  an  unchangeable  condition  excluding  social 
and  civil  rights.  In  all  the  European  nations,  however 
slowly,  there  continually  emerge  from  the  proletariat, 
from  among  the  poor,  individuals  who  ascend,  acquire  com 
parative  wealth,  position,  and  all  the  advantages  of  the 
world  are  thrown  open  to  them.  The  proletariat,  the 
poor,  their  progeny,  are  not  surrounded,  like  the  man  of 
color — slave  or  free — by  an  insurmountable  barrier  sepa- 
9 


194:  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

rating  them  from  civilization.  The  so-called  middls 
classes,  the  wealthy,  the  aristocracy,  was  and  is  recruite  I 
from  that  mass.  English  aristocracy  is  in  the  major  part 
composed  of  what  once  was  an  impure,  a  villain  blooc. 
The  poor  of  Europe  are  not  deprived  by  laws  and  obsen  - 
ances  of  the  right  of  religious  worship  and  association,  nor 
of  marital  rights,  nor  of  family  protection  and  ties,  all  o ? 
which  the  master  of  slaves  severs  according  to  his  ow  i 
will  and  pleasure.  The  civil  rights  of  the  proletaries,  o :' 
the  poor,  are  absolutely  equal  to  those  of  any  other  member 
of  society.  The  slave  has  none,  and  the  free- colored  ma  i 
scarcely  the  shadow  of  any  in  any  State,  Louisiana  alon3 
excepted — and  there  only  as  the  remains  of  ancient  Frenc'  i 
and  Spanish  supremacy.  In  Europe  political  rights  de 
pend  upon  material  property ;  and  if  the  poor  can  acquir  3 
it,  he  enjoys  political  rights  in  all  their  plenitude.  In  th  3 
European  nations  there  are  different  codes  for  the  different 
social  compounds.  The  life,  the  domestic  occupations,  th  3 
domestic  hearth,  the  time,  the  labor  of  the  proletariat,  arj 
not  at  the  discretion  an^*will  of  masters  and  owners.  Th  5 
proletariat,  the  poor,  are  adequately  protected  by  tin 
same  laws  with  all  other  members  of  the  community  or  of 
the  State.  The  poor  man  has  the  right  of  litigation 
against  every  body.  The  criminal  code  is  the  same  for 
the  man  of  the  so-called  superior  class,  as  for  the  proleta 
ry,  the  poor.  In  Russia,  where  nobles  have  real  privi 
leges,  where  serfdom  exists,  the  criminal  code  is  even  more 
severe  towards  a  noble,  on  account  of  his  social  superi 
ority,  immunities,  and  advantages.  In  the  slave  States, 
justice,  crime,  and  its  penalties,  vary  in  their  tenor,  defi 
nition,  application,  according  to  their  bearing  on  the  slave, 
the  man  of  color,  the  white  man,  or  the  master.  What 
the  moral  sense,  as  well  as  the  laws,  of  every  civilized  and 
humane  society  condemn  and  stamp  as  a  crime,  as  "  maim- 


SLAVERY.  195 

ing,"  "  killing  in  undue  heat,"  or  "  undue  correction,"  in 
the  criminal  legislation  of  the  South  is  scarcely  considered 
as  an  offence.  Laws  and  regulations  exclude  not  the  poor, 
the  proletariat,  from  "  mental  instruction,"  as  is  done  by 
the  laws  of  the  slave  States.  No  government  or  law  of 
any  European  country  imprisons  and  fines  a  teacher  for 
teaching  the  children  of  the  poor ;  while  the  laws  of  the 
Carolinas,  of  Georgia,  of  Virginia,  and  of  all  the  other 
Slave  States,  Kentucky,  Maryland,  and  Delaware  excepted, 
prohibit  under  heavy  penalties  the  teaching  of  the  colored 
race,  enslaved  or  free. 

Neither  the  sovereigns  nor  the  aristocracies  of  Europe 
consider  the  preservation  of  misery,  ignorance  and  degra 
dation  among  the  masses  as  a  social  necessity.  The  unin 
terrupted  tendency  and  efforts  of  European  rulers,  of  the 
European  superior  classes,  of  legislation  and  administra 
tion,  tend  towards  assuaging  the  evils  of  pauperism,  to  les 
sen  it,  to  educate  the  poor,  to  open  to  them  issues,  to  sof 
ten  the  misery,  to  alleviate  the  social  burden  pressing  on 
their  necks.  Governments  establish  schools,  and  desire 
to  instruct  and  enlighten.  European  rulers  and  the  so 
cially  privileged  of  every  class,  do  not  prize  the  blessings 
of  pauperism,  but  redden  in  shame  or  shudder  at  it.  The 
legislation  of  the  slave  States  increases  from  year  to  year 
in  stringency,  ferocity,  and  contempt  for  the  claims  of  hu 
manity.  They  aim  uninterruptedly  at  making  darkness 
darker,  the  yoke  heavier,  the  chains  tighter,  the  oppression 
more  shocking,  bondage  and  chattelhood  more  inhuman 
and  indestructible.  The  aim  of  their  legislatures  is  to 
destroy  all  the  germs  of  human  feeling  and  capacity  in 
the  slaves.  For  this  the  equitable  foundation  of  human 
relations  is  legally,  authoritatively  subverted.  Severance 
of  families,  disruption  of  ties,  laceration  of  affections, 


196  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

•which  are  common  even  to  animals,  are  sanctioned  by 
their  legislation. 

To  compensate  for  all  these  curses,  it  is  asserted  that 
the  slaves  are  better  fed  and  clothed  than  the  proletaries, 
the  daily  laborers,  living  in  freedom;  that  their  physical 
wants  and  necessities  are  cared  for ;  that  diseases  and 
hunger  are  averted  or  healed  by  the  attention  of  their  mas 
ters. 

It  is  probable  and  even  well-nigh  certain,  that  planta 
tions  can  be  found  scattered  over  the  region  of  slavery,  in 
which  the  chattels  are  treated  more  carefully,  in  which  SOUK; 
allowance  is  made  for  their  human  origin.  Undoubtedly, 
likewise,  the  majority  of  masters  try  to  avoid  tyranny  and 
harshness  as  far  as  possible,  or  as  far  as  their  own  interes ; 
requires  it.  But.  the  majority  of  slave  owners  cannon 
spend  their  material  resources  in  procuring  to  the  slave;) 
— even  on  a  small  scale,  comparatively — a  real,  material 
prosperity.  According  to  the  avowal  of  the  slave  owners, 
slave  labor  in  itself  is  expensive,  and  in  the  smaller  es 
tates,  by  far  more  numerous  than  the  larger  ones,  scarcely 
covers  the  cost.  The  owner  has  barely  enough  to  sat 
isfy  decently  his  own  wants  and  those  of  his  family,  and 
no  one  will  refuse  any  thing  to  himself  and  to  his  children, 
for  the  sake  of  his  chattels.  Those  are  kept  just  above 
starvation ;  the  physical  forces  are  alimented  enough  to  en 
able  them  to  fulfil  their  daily  tasks.  The  desolated  huts 
— those  abodes  of  slaves,  according  to  impartial  witnesses, 
in  an  immense  majority  over  the  South,  do  not  give  an 
idea  of  sheltered,  prosperous,  and  well-kept  inmates.  For 
one  working  chattel,  well-fed  and  tolerably  dressed,  there 
are  necessarily  hundreds  and  hundreds  covered  with  rags, 
fed  on  the  scantiest  and  coarsest  allowance.  Like  causes 
every  where  produce  like  effects.  In  certain  general  out 
lines  human  nature  is  the  same  all  over  the  world ;  as  an 


8LAVEKY.  1 97 

ancient  adage  says :  natura  liumana  semper  sibi  consona ; 
and  slavery  or  serfdom  in  husbandry,  in  economy,  in  house 
hold  administration,  works  now  in  the  same  way,  shows  the 
same  phenomena  that  marked  it  among  the  Romans,  that 
marked  it  over  Europe,  that  marks  it  still,  however  mitiga 
ted  it  may  be,  in  those  European  countries  where  serfdom 
prevails,  or  where,  although  serfdom  being  abolished  in 
principle,  custom,  habits,  tradition,  idleness  and  degrada 
tion  surround  the  large  land  owner,  the  once  master,  the 
nobleman  with  numerous  burdensome  retainers,  if  not 
chattels.  Such  was  the  case  for  a  long  time  among  the 
Irish  and  Scotch  clans ;  so  it  is  in  Sicily,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Naples,  in  Hungary,  in  the  Slavonias,  in  the  Danubian 
Principalities,  in  numerous  households  of  Poland  and  of 
Russia.  Every  where  and  always  such  retainers  are  often 
worse  treated  than  favorite  animals,  as  horses  and  dogs. 

But  admitting  that  the  physical  condition  of  the  en 
slaved  population  in  America  is  really  as  prosperous  as  it 
is  represented,  that  all  slaves  or  the  majority  of  them  are 
fat,  well-nourished  and  decently  clad ;  this  after  all  would 
be  nothing  more  than  what  is  done  by  every  sensible  hus 
bandman  for  his  cattle  and  domestic  animals,  which  must 
be  nourished  and  well-cared  for,  on  account  of  the  labor 
which  they  perform.  Every  good  husbandman  attends  to 
and  cures  his  crippled  or  diseased  oxen  or  horses,  and  so 
does  the  owner  of  the  slave,  who  after  all  is  the  most  ex 
pensive  domestic  animal,  and  one  that  is  renewed  or  pro 
cured  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  The  apologists  of 
slavery,  reducing  this  question  to  that  of  food,  of  physical 
maintenance,  as  forming  a  compensation  for  all  the  de 
struction  of  manliness  in  their  victims,  prove  how  under 
the  influence  of  slavery  the  comprehension,  the  feeling  of 
manhood  is  lowered  in  the  master  himself. 

Finally  the  question  between  a  well-fed  slave  and  a 


198  AMERICA   AJSTD   EUROPE. 

lean  freeman  was  settled  about  eighteen  centuries  ago,  by 
the  celebrated  Roman  fabulist  Phcedrus,  in  the  fable  Lu 
pus  and  Canis,  beginning  with  the  words — Quam  dulcix 
sit  libertas  breviter  proloquar  ;  to  which  I  refer  the  par 
tisans  of  slavery. 

Neither  is  it  true  that  the  enslaved  populations  arc 
satisfied,  and  cheerfully  support  their  bondage.  Ever, 
if  it  were  so,  it  would  justify  once  more  an  ancient  ax 
iom,  and  one  confirmed  by  all  ancient  and  modern  observ 
ers  of  human  nature,  that  oppression,  slavery,  destroys 
manhood  to  that  extent,  which  makes  the  slave  insensible: 
to  the  highest  good,  to  freedom.  Tims  we  often  incei. 
with  hardened  criminals,  to  whom  virtue,  honesty,  honor 
become  totally  incomprehensible.  So  a  distorted  organ 
ism  often  rejects' the  efforts  to  bring  it  back  to  a  normal, 
condition.  How  often  an  individual  affected  with  an  in 
ternal  chronic  disease,  or  with  some  external  excrescence, 
dreads  the  cure,  refuses  to  submit  to  it,  and  prefers  in 
firmity  to  health  and  vigSr. 

But  innumerable  and  various  facts  give  the  lie  to  the 
assertion  that  the  American  slave  loves  slavery.  He  sub 
mits  to  it,  as  says  Alfieri  of  all  oppressed : — 

servi  siam'  si  ; 

Ma  servi  ognor  frementi. 

If  the  chattels  are  thus  satisfied  with  their  condition, 
what  necessity  evokes  the  almost  daily  framing  of  violent, 
ferocious  laws,  to  defend,  preserve  and  strengthen  bon 
dage,  to  make  the  chain  more  indestructible  ?  If  the  chat 
tels  are  so»  fond  of  bondage,  whence  comes  the  dread  of 
the  masters  to  see  them  run  away  ?  What  urgent  neces 
sity  was  there  for  the  atrocious  fugitive  slave  law  \  How 
is  it  that  the  Southern  papers  from  all  the  States  contain 
repeated  advertisements  of  runaway  slaves,  with  rewards 


SLAVERY. 


199 


for  their  delivery,  alive  or  dead  ?  Why  is  it  that  others 
of  these  papers,  from  time  to  time  announce  that  pos 
sessors  of  bloodhounds  are  ready  to  hire  them  out,  and 
hunt  the  fugitives  for  twenty-five  dollars  the  job  ?  Strange 
evidences  of  the  felicity  and  satisfaction  of  the  oppressed. 
What  need  of  the  cudgel,  the  whip,  the  gag,  the  thumb 
screw,  the  bell,  and  various  other  implements  of  refined 
torture,  which  stock  the  household  armories  of  the  plan 
tations  ?  Must  the  devotion  of  the  chattels  be  shored  up 
with  terror  ?  All  this  so  much  trumpeted  kindness  of  the 
masters  notwithstanding,  thousands  and  thousands  of 
these  human  chattels  often  envy  the  treatment,  the  nour 
ishment  of  the  favorite  dogs  of  their  owners !  And  those 
murdered  in  their  attempts  to  recover  liberty,  the  mothers 
destroying  their  offspring,  rather  than  to  see  them  slaves, 
redeem  the  atrocious  aspersion  on  the  colored  population, 
as  if  it  were  blunted  to  the  sense  of  liberty.  Vainly  is  it 
maintained  that  such  cases  of  utter  despair  are  few  and 
isolated.  Few  and  isolated  are  the  self-devoted  martyrs 
of  any  oppressed  people,  but  the  blood  and  deeds  of  the 
martyrs  bear  evidence  against  the  tyrants. 

Slavery  as  practised  in  the  States  of  the  Union,  civil 
izes,  ennobles  the  colored  race,  raises  it  above  its  kindred 
in  Africa.  These  nefarious  assertions  are  uttered  as  the 
crowning  justification.  The  coarse  varnish  of  tameness 
with  which  slavery  glosses  over  its  victims  is  not  culture  ; 
servility  is  not  civilization.  This  varnish,  corrosive  in  its 
action,  eats  up,  destroys  in  the  slave  the  dignity  of  man 
hood,  which  makes  the  savage  superior  to  the  enslaved. 
Civilization  is  then  only  genuine  and  beneficial  when  she 
preserves,  nourishes,  developes,  purifies  and  raises  higher 
and  higher  the  manly  germs  implanted  by  nature  in  the 
breast,  in  the  mind  of  man.  Such  civilization  alone  en 
nobles,  but  such  is  not  the  lot  of  the  slava  Such  is  not 


200  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

within  the  range  of  slavery.  The  taming  of  the  black  o  • 
the  mulatto  to  serve  the  wants,  to  fulfil  the  biddings  and 
the  whims  of  the  white  man,  is  a  desecration  of  the  essence, 
of  the  principle,  of  the  name  of  civilization. 

The  colored  race  is  not  alone  degraded  by  slavery. 
Fate  in  its  equitable  retaliation  blights  the  white  man  with 
the  deleterious  exhalations.  Nearly  three-fourths  of  tho 
white  population  in  the  Slave  States  do  not  own  any  prop 
erty  in  man.  The  condition  of  the  immense  majoritv 
thereof,  according  to  the  accounts  published  by  the  de 
fenders  of  slavery,  is  most  deplorable.  This  population 
is  subject  to  material,  intellectual  and  moral  privations,  is 
reduced  to  the  most  miserable  degradation.  And  this 
state,  according  to  the  same  source  of  information,  is  yearly 
growing  worse.  rJChe  younger  portion  is  less  educated,  less 
industrious,  more  wretched,  physically  and  morally,  and 
the  evil  increases  uninterruptedly.  The  habits  of  appli 
cation  to  close  labor  is  lost  among  them,  and  they  "  whil} 
away  existence  in  a  st»te  but  one  step  in  advance  of  th ) 
Indian  of  the  forest."  They  grow  up  without  mental  and 
moral  instruction,  as  without  any  apprenticeship  in  me 
chanic  and  operative  skill.  Slavery  shuts  against  them 
all  issues.  Slaveholders  possess  the  best  lands,  and  slavery 
is  not  creative  or  propitious  to  the  arts,  industry  or  me 
chanical  skill.  The  whites  find  no  demand,  no  employment 
for  their  labor,  nothing  spurs  them  to  order,  to  regulated 
activity,  to  progress,  and  the  development  of  their  faculties. 
The  South  does  not  possess  towns,  villages,  and  townships 
like  those  which  compose  the  Free  States,  and  above  all 
New  England,  the  first  among  the  civilized  countries  of 
the  Christian  world.  The  germs  of  liberty,  of  culture,  of 
progress,  of  comprehension  and  firm  adhesion  to  human 
rights,  of  their  regulated  reasonable  exercises,  are  nursed 
and  brought  forth  in  these  villages.  On  them  prominently 


SLAVERY.  201 

reposes  the  prosperity,  the  freedom,  the  future  of  Ameri 
can  destinies.  These  villages  are  so  many  foci  of  light 
and  morality,  of  intelligent,  orderly  activity.  Out  of  these 
villages  and  townships,  pours  forth  uninterruptedly  the 
radiant  stream  of  life,  whose  innumerable  rivulets  carry 
and  spread  civilization  over  America,  whose  halo  corus 
cates  brilliantly  in  the  history  of  our  race. 

All  is  darkness  and  desolation  in  the  Slavery  States. 
The  reports  and  messages  of  their  Governors  resound  with 
complaints  of  poverty,  exhaustion,  record  the  decreasing 
productivity  of  the  land,  the  increasing  ignorance  among 
the  mass  of  the  white  population.  According  to  those  of 
ficial  reports  and  messages,  there  are  scores  and  scores  of 
thousands  who  can  neither  read  nor  write  in  each  State. 
Schools  are  rare  and  are  maintained  with  difficulty. 
Townships  often  belong  to  some  few  of  the  wealthier  plant 
ers,  who  have  no  interest  in  taxing  themselves  for  a  com 
munal  free  public  school,  for  the  general  good.  Those 
planters  educate  their  children  under  the  care  of  private 
tutors,  in  private  boarding  schools,  in  colleges,  or  send 
them  to  the  North.  Teachers  of  both  sexes  are  im 
ported  from  New  England,  as  such  intellectual  produce 
does  not  germinate  and  blossom  in  the  slaveholding 
States. 

Moreover,  it  is  an  inborn  instinct  of  oligarchies,  to 
hate  light  and  civilization,  to  prevent  them  in  any  manner 
whatever  from  penetrating  to  the  masses.  The  Southern 
oligarchies  abhor  culture  of  mind  in  the  white  population, 
no  less  than  in  their  chattels.  They  scorn  the  intelligent 
operatives,  mechanics,  artisans,  of  the  North.  The  enlight 
ened  white  masses  would  cease  to  be  the  tools  of  the  slave 
owners,  and  slavery  would  be  undermined,  and  then  ex 
plode.  It  would  take  volumes  to  collect  the  contemptuous 
utterances  of  Southern  so-called  statesmen,  orators,  theo- 


202  AMERICA    AND   EUBOPE. 

rists,  stigmatizing  enlightened  industry  and  its  progress,  uni» 
ted  with  the  intellectual  progress  of  working  populations. 
Never  did  the  most  feudal,  aristocratic,  and  benighted 
times  in  Europe  witness  such  a  hatred  towards  indepen 
dent,  industrial  populations  and  communities,  as  is  mani 
fested  by  the  Southern  slave-masters.  Not  from  these 
rulers  of  the  destinies  of  the  South,  nor  its  laboring  classes 
—of  whatever  color — is  to  be  expected  the  fostering  of 
culture,  or  any  step  for  mental  amelioration,  and  the  ma 
terial  improvement  so  closely  connected  with  it.  Not  in 
this  way  act  the  Governments,  the  superior  classes  in  Eu 
rope.  And  in  face  of  this  thorough  degradation  of  the 
white  population  of  their  own  kindred,  of  the  descendants 
of  those  who  fought  the  battles  of  independence,  the  up 
holders  of  slavery  dare  to  upbraid  the  civilization  of  those 
whom  they  call  the  "  greasy  mechanics  "  of  the  North, 
scrutinize  the  condition  of  the  proletariat  in  Europe,  and 
represent  slavery  as  the  only  guarantee  of  prosperity  to 
the  masses.  . 

Freedom,  under  whatever  shape  it  manifests  itself,  is 
and  always  was  repulsive  to  oligarchies.  The  Southern 
oligarchy  hates  its  name  and  its  substance,  abhorring  free 
labor,  free  schools,  and  men  of  every  color  who  are  ele 
vated  by  them. 

History  fully  proves  that  oligarchies  are  more  fatal  to 
society  than  even  the  most  unlimited  power  of  one  man. 
Still  more  so  must  be  an  oligarchy  founded  exclusively  on 
the  most  atrocious  social  abuse.  Oligarchies  based  on  a 
certain  traditional  right,  on  the  possession  and  exercise  of 
power,  have  had  in  their  behalf  the  same  traditional  feel 
ing  in  the  masses,  accustomed  to  be  ruled  for  generations, 
accustomed  to  consider  their  rulers  as  exercising  a  legiti 
mate  power  over  them.  But  the  slavery  oligarchy  is  in 
principle  and  political  relations  not  superior  to  the  rest  of 


SLAVERY.  203 

the  white  population.  It  is  only  by  using  its  wealth  and 
influence  for  systematically  debasing  the  whites,  and  re 
taining  them  in  poverty  and  degradation,  that  the  slave 
holder  can  maintain  over  them  his  baneful  preponderance. 

Facts  and  not  fiction  prove  how  slavery  denaturalizes, 
distorts  the  great  principle  laid  down  broadly  and  exclu 
sively  at  the  foundation  of  American  society.  Facts  and 
not  fiction  evidence  how  directly  it  is  opposed  to  the  ten 
dencies  of  the  free  civilized  part  of  the  American  Union, 
as  well  as  to  those  of  Europe.  The  efforts  of  reason,  of 
culture,  of  social  morality,  are  directed  towards  generaliz 
ing,  among  the  masses,  self-respect,  good  breeding,  honor 
able  pride  of  labor,  generous,  elevated  feelings,  polish  of 
manners ;  in  one  word,  towards  elevating  the  social  level, 
the  social  tone ;  and  thus  towards  diminishing  even  to  its 
total  disappearance  the  aristocratic,  social  and  political 
distinctions.  Slavery  constrains  itself  to  build  up  what  is 
distanced,  abandoned  by  the  spirit  of  our  age.  But  her 
productions  are  shams ;  her  aristocracy  is  a  counterfeit ; 
her  social  polish  only  a  coarse  gloss. 

Slavery  is  a  curse  more  fatal  to  the  master  than  to  the 
victim.  It  deteriorates  the  mind,  hardens  the  heart,  and 
makes  the  slave-breeder  perpetually  false  to  the  better  im 
pulses  of  human  nature,  A  slave-owner  is  a  good  master, 
kind-hearted,  patient,  full  of  forbearance  and  care  as  long 
as  the  slave  is  abject,  fawning,  crawling,  and  submissive, — 
as  long  as  he  licks  his  chains,  and  the  hand  which  forges 
them.  But  the  slightest  breath  of  manhood  raises  the  an 
ger  of  that  kind  master,  in  whose  opinion  the  slave  de 
serves  condescension,  good  treatment,  as  long  only  as  he 
acquiesces  in  being  a  brute,  but  becomes  highly  coudem- 
nable  and  is  to  be  ferociously  repressed  as  soon  as  he  feels 
himself  to  be  a  man. 

To  the  planter  as  a  child,  and  afterwards  as  a  grown  up 


204  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

man,  in  his  daily  domestic  life,  is  wanting  in  his  relation 
with  the  slave  that  which  exclusively  curbs  and  regulates 
the  exuberance  and  the  original  force  of  human  passions.  It 
is  the  early,  calm,  omnipotent  influence  of  a  genuine  moral 
culture,  softening  the  savage  impulses  of  our  nature.  He 
grows  up  upon  the  plantation  surrounded  by  beings  whom 
he  is  accustomed  to  consider  below  him  morally  and  mental 
ly,  as  forming  a  medium  between  man  and  brute,  existing 
there  to  obey  his  bidding,  to  satisfy  his  will  and  pleasure. 
As  a  child,  as  a  boy,  he  sees  and  hears  instances  of  sever 
ity,  nay  of  cruelty,  modified  mostly  by  the  material  inter 
est  for  not  weakening  and  disabling  a  necessary  and  costly 
tool.  So  he  reaches  the  age  of  manhood,  and  the  soften 
ing  influences  of  reason,  of  the  world  without,  begin  to 
work  on  his  mind,  only  when  the  first  impressions  are 
already  deeply  stamped,  when  they  have  penetrated  his 
whole  frame,  and  then  may  arise  within  his  bosom  a  strug 
gle  between  his  bettor  nature,  and  this  falsehood  of  his 
condition  in  his  domestic  Delations — at  war  with  his  posi 
tion,  his  relations  with  the  world  without.  In  such  mo 
ments  sincere  men  among  the  slaveholders  have  condemned 
and  deprecated  slavery.  But  misunderstood  self-interest, 
prejudices,  false  pride,  generally  maintain  the  upper  hand. 
Men  enjoying  immunities  must  necessarily  have  prejudices, 
and  prejudices  pervert  and  overpower  the  mind.  The 
slaveholder  carries  them  within  him.  they  bear  heavily  on 
all  the  relations  of  life,  of  a  man,  a  citizen,  a  republican,  a 
politician,  a  divine,  a  lover  of  study  and  science,  or  whatever 
other  pursuits  in  life  he  may  choose.  And  so  slavery, 
originating  on  the  American  soil  by  an  accident,  in  a  mer 
cantile  speculation,  about  half  a  century  ago,  considered 
as  an  evil  by  the  most  patriotic  men  of  the  South,  is  up 
held  now  as  an  offensive  weapon  against  the  moral  sense  of 
our  age,  against  the  general  outcry  of  civilization.  It  is 


SLAVERY.  205 

no  longer  an  economical  availability,  and  still  less  a  social 
evil,  but  a  high  moral  obligation,  a  social  law,  a  nursery  of 
freedom,  an  agency  of  culture.  Few  minds  or  hearts  can 
resist  such  an  unnatural  tension.  They  lose  elasticity, 
become  incapable  of  any  loftier  impulse,  whatever  might 
be  the  otherwise  generous  propensities  of  those  laboring 
under  this  mental  disorder. 

Beyond  the  regions  blighted  with  slavery,  the  slave 
holder  comes  in  contact  with  a  different  social  state,  with 
other  notions  and  convictions,  with  men  more  or  less 
strongly  condemning  what  he  is  bound  to  uphold.  This 
necessity  makes  him  uneasy.  He  feels  that  he  carries  a 
burden  of  moral  and  social  condemnation ;  the  best  among 
them  are  always  on  the  defensive,  or  in  a  state  of  a  bane 
ful,  unwholsome  mental  irritation.  Some  of  them  speak 
then  of  slavery  as  of  an  evil  inherited,  which  they  are  un 
able  to  avert,  to  change,  or  to  modify.  If  such  are  their 
true  convictions,  then  how  can  they  harmonize  with  the  dig 
nity  of  manhood  the  upholding  by  their  political  vote,  or 
even  by  silent  acquiescence,  those  who  proclaim  slavery  a 
good,  a  blessing,  and  who  drag  the  legislative  action  of  the 
States  to  strengthen  and  make  the  evil  irremediable,  or 
who  direct  intensely  the  efforts  of  the  States,  of  the  South 
ern  populations,  towards  extending  it  over  lands  hitherto 
not  blighted  with  the  curse  ?  If  conscience  speaks  loudly 
in  them,  and  they  stifle  it  off  through  false  shame,  interest, 
or  the  spirit  of  party,  then  they  willingly  degrade  them 
selves.  Or  if  their  manifestations  of  regret  are  insincere, 
if  they  are  made  only  for  the  sake  of  appearances,  to  avert 
from  themselves  the  disgust  of  others,  to  be  taken  for  en 
lightened  or  humane,  then  they  have  no  claim  on  respect 
and  consideration.  Either  way,  therefore,  the  best  of  them 
are  forcibly  dragged  by  slavery  into  hypocrisy,  into  a  strug 
gle  with  the  better  longings  of  human  reason  and  nature. 


206  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

Others  again  bear  up  against  the  accusations  of  the  out 
ward  civilized  world,  and  in  their  false  pride  harder 
their  hearts,  poison  and  corrupt  their  reason,  their  judg 
ment. 

For  these  and  similar  causes,  slaveholders  are  inimica" 
to  the  ideas  of  the  age,  are  inimical  to  the  loftier  activity 
of  civilization.  They  in  general  deny  its  usefulness,  itt 
necessity,  and  above  all  dread  its  general  diffusion,  not 
only  in  their  own  land,  but  even  in  other  regions  of  the 
world, — prosperity,  progress,  onward  march,  diffusion  of 
knowledge  being  their  loudest  condemnation. 

Scattered  among  the  mass  of  slaveholders  there  arc 
men  and  women  of  culture  and  refinement,  whose  social 
qualities  raise  them  to  a  level  with  the  best  of  any  society, 
whose  feelings  of  morality  and  genuine  honor  elevate  them 
above  the  muddy  current  into  which  fate  has  thrown  their 
existence.  Such  persons  inspire  a  deep  sorrow,  to  see  their 
noble  faculties  and  impulses  depressed  or  blighted  by  the 
emanations  of  a  social  and  political  state  which  sooner  or 
later  must  unavoidably  taAiish  them.  Such  do  not  give 
the  tone,  either  in  social  or  political  relations,  to  the  im 
mense  majority  of  their  fellow-citizens.  Their  influence 
or  action  does  not  come  to  daylight,  nor  manifest  itself 
in  legislative  enactments,  or  other  public  utterances.  They 
are  subdued  or  overawed — and  some  of  them  end  by  howl 
ing  with  the  wolves. 

At  the  family  hearth,  slavery  loosens  and  desecrates 
the  family  ties,  the  relations  by  blood ;  lust  and  lewdness 
display  themselves  unbridled.  In  those  unchecked  rela 
tions,  matrimonial  fidelity  wholly  disappears.  The  great 
numbers  of  mulattoes  are  living  evidences  thereof.  Among 
the  ancients,  concubinage  was  not  condemned  either  by 
religion,  ethics,  customs,  manners  or  laws,  as  it  is  in  Chris 
tian  society.  Then  the  traffic  in  slaves  was  not  a  business 


,  -  SLAVERY.  207 

organized  in  the  manner  in  which  it  exists  now  in  the 
Southern  States.  By  this  organization  the  produce  of 
blood  is  here  brought  into  the  market.  Fathers  thus  sell 
their  children ;  or  at  the  best,  brothers,  sisters,  sell  the 
offspring  of  their  common  parent,  and  thus  the  trafficking 
extends  among  the  nearest  connections  by  blood. 

The  external  manifestations  of  the  influence  of  slavery 
on  the  slaveholders  must  be  judged  by  the  tone,  the  cus 
toms,  actions,  and  the  degree  of  mental  culture,  of  the 
great  mass. 

"Where  public  education  is  generally  neglected,  the 
members  of  a  community  possessing  limited  means,  soon 
sink  into  a  state  of  mental  torpor.  The  small  planter  is 
secluded  from  the  world,  from  social  and  civil  softening 
influences.  A  domestic  despotism,  recklessness  and  self- 
will,  become  for  him  the  attributes  of  self-government. 
The  means  of  sustaining  the  feeble  sparks  of  culture — if 
he  has  received  any — are  beyond  his  reach,  and  thus  aban 
doned,  he  necessarily  becomes  imbruted.  His  habits  and 
manners  become  fierce,  brute  force  is  substituted  for  law. 
Accustomed  to  subdue  by  violence  every  opposition  of  his 
chattels  to  his  will,  he  carries  into  civility,  into  contact 
with  society,  the  same  indomitable  and  injurious  vehe 
mence.  Thus  are  bred  the  perpetrators  of  those  bloody 
assaults,  of  lynching  and  burning,  deeds  of  which  accounts 
are  to  be  found  continually  in  the  Southern  press.  These 
men  use  bloodhounds.  Honor  in  their  comprehension 
becomes  brutality,  assassination  and  murder  the  manifes 
tation  of  courage.  Each  of  them  carries  the  decision  of 
law,  the  sword  of  justice,  in  his  own  hands,  and  deals  blows 
at  pleasure.  In  their  brutality,  their  prejudice,  their 
pride,  they  treat  the  laws  with  contempt,  and  thus  justify 
the  complaints  of  those  more  humanized  among  the  South 
ern  inhabitants,  about  the  degradation  of  the  public  sense 


208  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

of  morality,  rendering  impossible  by  juries  and  judges  tl  e 
conviction  of  criminals. 

This  great  slaveholding  mass  produces  and  elects  thof  e 
legislators,  for  their  States  or  for  Congress,  whose  enact 
ments — by  their  worship  of  ignorance  and  of  darkness, 
and  by  their  ferocity — outrage  the  comprehension,  deso- 
crate  the  name  of  law.  These  enactments,  making  bonda<:  e 
daily  and  daily  more  stringent  and  pitiless,  or  attempting 
its  extension,  are  the  best  evidences  of  the  moral  ruin  into 
which  slavery  drags  its  white  victims.  Before  the  tribu 
nal  of  morality,  of  reason,  of  justice,  and  of  history,  the 
one  who  enacts  such  laws  is  lower  in  the  scale  of  human 
beings  than  those  against  whom  such  laws  are  directed. 
Humanity  must  condemn  any  society  which  can  only  le 
maintained  by  increasing  legislative,  and  therefore  coo> 
blooded  violence. 

Where  the  immense  majority  of  the  population  is  ei  - 
slaved,  the  one  portion  by  law,  the  other  by  ignorance, 
where  labor  and  industry,  are  regarded  with  contempt, 
there  agriculture  principally  absorbs  the  productive  acth  - 
ity.  The  South,  by  the  nature  of  its  products,  considers 
itself  as  a  region  exclusively  predestined  for  agriculture . 
But  slavery  prevents  the  agricultural  interest  from  keep 
ing  pace  with  the  material  improvements  in  that  brand i 
of  industry.  Generally,  the  ancient  routine  is  preserved, 
the  immense  majority  of  plantations  squander  labor  and 
time  in  using  the  worthless,  old-fashioned  implements  of 
husbandry.  Thus  slavery  is  compelled  to  reject  inventions 
which  would  make  agriculture  profitable.  The  lands  in 
old  and  new  States  become  quickly  unproductive,  exhaust 
ed  by  coarse,  irrational  husbandry.  This  is  the  general 
lamentation  echoed  in  official  and  non-official  documents. 
But  nevertheless  the  planters,  and  the  merchants  who  grow 
fat  on  the  former,  proclaim  that  the  South  ought  only  to 


SLAVERY.  209 

base  its  prosperity  on  the  exports  of  its  crude  products,  that 
free  trade  is  the  only  natural,  economical  policy  of  that 
region.  The  Southern  planter  forgets,  or  rather  does  not 
comprehend,  that  all  the  industries  are  blended,  and  pro 
gress  hand  in  hand,  that  to  exclude  one  blights  most  as 
suredly  the  other.  The  most  industrious  countries  and 
regions  of  Europe,  England,  Belgium,  parts  of  Germany, 
Normandy,  Flanders,  are  likewise  foremost  among  all 
others  in  agriculture.  Free  trade  is  the  death  of  prosper 
ity  and  progress.  The  human  mind  and  intellect  as  well 
as  the  human  body  prospers  in  variety,  in  the  manifold  ap 
plication  of  its  faculties.  Neither  man  nor  nature  is 
ruled  by  oneness  and  onesightedness.  Matter  adapts 
itself  to  multifarious  productions  and  uses,  when  plied  and 
directed  by  the  intellect  and  the  hand  of  man.  Harmony 
of  mental  and  material  life  in  individuals,  communities 
and  nations,  consists  in  the  development  of  varieties,  in 
the  combination  of  various  chords  and  tunes.  A  man  whose 
mind  is  concentrated  in  one  idea — whatever  be  its  intrin 
sic  value — destroys  within  himself  the  fulness  of  his  na 
ture.  An  operative  using  principally  one  of  his  limbs 
distorts  it,  and  the  harmony  of  his  frame  is  destroyed. 
A  country  devoted  to  a  single  labor,  working  out  a  single 
branch  of  production,  becomes  impoverished  mentally  and 
physically.  Its  inhabitants  sink  in  every  respect,  and  be 
come  inferior  to  those  who  multiply  and  diffuse  their  men 
tal  and  intellectual  occupations,  who  vary  to  infinity  their 
pursuits  in  life.  The  exclusively  agricultural  countries 
have  been  always  inferior,  and  their  inferiority  is  not 
limited  to  the  laborers  only — either  free,  serfs,  or  slaves, 
— but  stamps  the  immense  majority  of  the  ruling  class, 
be  it  noblemen  or  planters. 

Serfdom,  contempt  for  free  labor  and  civilization,  arro 
gant  presumption  and  free  trade,  exclusively  and  absolutely 


210  AMERICA   AND   EUKOPE. 

caused  the  destruction  of  Poland.  The  Polish  serfs,  as 
well  as  those  of  Germany,  Russia,  and  of  some  other  parts 
of  Eastern  Europe,  were  of  the  same  race,  of  the  same 
blood  as  their  masters  or  the  nobility.  There  exists,  how 
ever,  the  most  perfect  analogy  between  the  social  state, 
the  political  action  and  the  reasonings  of  the  slave-breed 
ers,  and  that  of  the  ancient  Polish  nobility.  Poland  was 
for  several  centuries  nearly  the  only  granary  of  Europe, 
above  all  of  the  northern  part,  as  the  cotton  planter  en 
joys  at  present  the  monopoly  of  cotton.  The  Polish  no 
bility  imported  most  of  the  manufactured  necessaries  of 
life  from  abroad,  instead  of  fostering  industrial  develop 
ment  at  home.  For  centuries  free  trade  flourished  in  the 
fullest  blaze,  and  with  it  increased  domestic  misery,  abjec 
tion  and  ignorance:  Free  trade  impeded  and  prevented 
the  sprouting,  the  growth  of  an  industrial,  active,  intelligent 
national  class ;  the  few  unavoidably  necessary  artisans  and 
operatives  were  all  foreigners.  There  was  no  native  mid 
dle  class  of  any  consequence  to  stand  between  the  serf 
and  the  nobleman,  as  there  is  none  in  the  South  between 
the  slave  and  the  master.  The  mass  of  the  nobility, 
amounting  to  between  two  and  three  hundred  thousand 
— and  all  in  principle  politically  equal — constituted  the 
political  and  civil  nation,  as  is  the  case  to  a  great  extent 
with  the  aggregate  of  planters  and  slaveholders.  The 
magnates  possessed  polish  and  culture ;  the  immense  ma 
jority  of  the  small  or  poor  nobility  were  a  lazy,  ignorant, 
pugnacious,  boisterous  rabble,  although  not  murderers  or 
treacherous  assassins,  not  heroes  of  the  cudgel.  They 
were  clamorous  at  political  reunions  and  diets,  virulently 
opposing  reforms  and  progress,  averse  to  recognizing  hu 
man  and  political  rights  in  others.  They  considered  in 
dustrial  pursuits  and  occupations  as  beneath  them.  They 
spoke  with  the  same  contempt  of  their  intelligent,  orderly 


SLAVERY.  211 

laborious,  progressive,  enlightened  neighbors,  the  Ger 
mans,  as  the  slavebreeders  speak  of  the  Yankees,  so  far 
superior  to  them  in  every  way.  The  Polish  nobles  boast 
ed  that  the  world  would  become  starved  without  their 
cerealia,  that  they  could  buy  for  them  whatever  else 
they  wanted,  as  the  South  boasts  that  the  world  will  be 
naked  without  its  cotton.  The  world  went  on  ;  the  Ger 
man  neighbor,  Prussia — which  as  a  state  shot  out  of  Po 
lish  imbecility — is  to-day  among  the  greatest  and  most 
enlightened  nations  ;  Poland,  with  its  nobility,  feeble  and 
decrepit,  dissolved  in  ignorance,  has  disappeared  from 
the  record  of  living  nations.  So  mental  and  material 
degradation,  the  fruits  of  serfdom  and  of  free  trade,  dug 
for  centuries  the  abyss  into  which  Poland  fell. 

The  South  begins  to  feel  its  degradation,  its  backward 
ness,  its  industrial  and  commercial  dependence.  It  tries 
to  remedy  it  by  conventions  and  resolutions,  that  such  or 
such  a  port  or  city  is  to  become  a  Southern  metropolis ; 
that  trade  is  to  expand,  navigation  and  industry  to  be 
created.  But  liberty,  civilization,  the  free  opening  of  all 
issues  to  human  activity,  respect  for  free  labor,  intelligent 
and  educated  populations,  and  not  boisterous  and  foolish 
conventions,  create  trade,  animate  cities,  raise  manufac 
tures,  build  ships,  and  evoking  a  higher  life,  evoke  and 
fix  prosperity. 

Not  conventions  and  resolutions,  but  freedom  has  made 
New  York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  the  centres  of  the  com 
mercial  wealth  of  this  hemisphere.  Freedom  erects  cities 
as  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  Milwaukee,  and  others,  which, 
emerging  as  by  a  spell  from  nothingness,  teem  with  indus 
try,  trade;  grow  with  an  unheard  of  rapidity  ;  while 
Charleston  and  Savannah,  old  already  by  centuries,  backed 
by  the  cotton-growing  and  slave-whipping  South,  situated 


212  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

near  the  ocean,  see  the  grass  growing  in  their  desolated 
streets. 

Despotism  in  its  most  implacable  and  virulent  action, 
has  now  become  the  paramount  creed  of  the  upholders  of 
slavery.  Suspicious,  uneasy,  alarmed,  exasperated,  they, 
like  all  the  tyrants,  remorselessly  proscribe,  attempt  to 
extirpate,  to  kill  and  destroy  whatever  has  the  slightest 
shadow  of  disagreement  with  the  most  frenetic  conceptions, 
definitions  and  exercise  of  slavery.  Under  penalty  of 
lynching,  mobbing,  imprisonment,  expulsion,  or  assassina 
tion — applauded  from  one  end  to  the  other  in  the  slavery 
region — no  voice  can  be  raised  contrary  to  the  institution. 
Its  value,  its  good  or  evil  is  forbidden  to  be  discussed,  nay 
even  the  slightest  doubt  is  criminal,  is  unpardonable. 
Identity  of  causes'  produces  identity  of  effects.  As  the 
Neros,  the  Domitians,  the  Heliogobali  allowed  only  one 
worship,  that  of  their  person,  and  of  their  will,  so  slavery 
requires  from  all  within  its  area,  to  bend  the  knee  and 
worship  her.  Minds,  opinions,  words,  the  secrecy  of 
intercourse  and  of  letters  are  overwatched ;  the  closet 
as  well  as  the  pulpit,  the  sacred  ceremonies  of  public 
religious  prayer  are  put  absolutely  under  the  control  of 
slavery.  What  else  was  done  by  the  most  abhorred  ty 
rants  and  despots  of  all  times,  of  all  nations  ?  Not 
in  the  fiction  of  a  novel,  but  in  inexcusable  facts,  in 
public  speeches,  in  public  acts  perpetrated  in  cities  and 
communities,  in  the  numberless  articles  of  the  Southern 
press,  are  brought  forth  these  terroristic  principles,  are 
recorded  those  saturnalia  of  slaveholding  polity.  For  the 
first  time  the  history  of  the  human  race  will  have  to  deeply 
imbrue  in  blood  and  shame  the  annals  of  a  society,  in 
which  terror,  remorseless  espionage,  inexorable  hatred 
carried  to  homicide,  became  the  supreme  law,  being  per- 


SLAVERY.  213 

petrated  not  by  a  single  despot  and  his  accomplices  and 
mercenaries,  but  by  whole  communities. 

In  vain  for  slavery  are  the  teachings  of  history,  the 
fate  of  tyrants  and  tyrannies,  the  rapid  fall  and  ruin  of 
social  systems,  conditions  and  bodies,  needing  in  self-defence 
to  be  upheld  by  stringent  and  atrocious  laws,  treading 
in  their  fury  upon  freedom,  rights,  and  independent  con 
victions.  In  the  whole  world's  history  never  was  oppres 
sion  carried  out  more  consistently,  conducted  with  such 
reckless  energy,  cold  blood,  understanding  and  discern 
ment,  than  that  by  Sulla  in  Rome,  for  the  sake  and  in  the 
name  of  the  Roman  patricians.  But  the  oligarchical  des 
potism  for  which  Sulla  acted  could  not  stand ;  the  patri 
cians  lost  their  power,  and  the  hecatombs  of  people  were 
avenged  by  their  blood. 

On  such  a  social  condition  is  supported  what  in  the  po 
litical  struggles  of  America  takes  the  name  of  the  demo 
cratic  party.  But  as  Demosthenes  said  :  "  To  a  democracy 
nothing  is  more  essential  than  a  scrupulous  regard  to 
equity  and  justice."  Here  slavery  extends  its  action  be 
yond  its  geographical  boundaries,  and  encroaches  upon  the 
domain  of  liberty.  So  it  accomplishes  the  perversion  of 
names  and  principles.  The  Southern,  the  slavery  States, 
as  a  political  party  in  the  Union,  form  the  hot-bed,  the 
heart,  the  pivot  of  such  a  democracy.  Never  was  mis 
nomer  more  salient,  never  a  confusion  of  truth  and  false 
hood,  of  right  and  wrong,  of  justice  and  injustice  more 
complete.  A  society  wherein  bondage,  degradation,  con 
tempt  for  labor,  for  popular  education  are  the  cardinal 
strictures,  is  held  up  as  democracy.  Whereas  the  efforts 
of  true  democracy  are  uninterruptedly  directed  to  eman 
cipate,  to  enlighten  man,  to  exalt  him  in  proportion  to 
his  intrinsic  worth,  and  thus  to  exalt  labor,  the  true  main 
spring  of  democratic  association,  and  polity.  Thus  de- 


214  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

mocracy,  one  of  the  highest  and  most  salutary  philosophi 
cal  and  social  conceptions,  identified,  embodied  in  slavery, 
has  become  a  social  ulcer.  The  annals  of  the  past,  3r 
modern  European  theories,  would  be  searched  in  vain  to 
elucidate  how  this  most  generous  principle  could  be  ever 
distorted  to  such  an  extent  for  the  use  of  narrow,  egotis  i- 
cal  schemes  and  views.  It  was  the  lot  of  America  to 
show  how  it  becomes  degraded  in  its  substance,  when  ic- 
duced  to  merely  a  partisan  denomination,  a  shroud  ex 
tended  over  a  socially  and  politically  corroded  body. 

The  confessors  of  the  thus  desecrated  democracy,  pro 
claim  her  to  be  conservative  of  darkness  and  slavery,  of 
abuse  and  prejudice.  But  democracy  in  its  genuine  and 
pure  nature,  as  it  really  constitutes  the  essence  of  Ame:*i- 
can  society,  i»  neither  conservative  nor  destructive. 
American  democracy  in  its  germ,  in  its  growth  and  devel 
opment,  has  been  hitherto  and  is  now  integrally  creative, 
self-improving  and  progressive.  Such  a  democracy  spurns 
the  revolting  association  with  slavery,  deceitfully  seeki  ig 
a  shelter  behind  the  splendor  of  the  name,  as  crime  oftan 
assumes  or  borrows  the  semblance  of  virtue. 

Mental  sterility  preeminently  stamps  the  pro-slavery 
States.  In  the  boundless  expanse  of  the  human  mind,  fie 
slavery  region  alone  gives  no  signs  of  a  healthy,  intellec 
tual  activity.  It  is  a  dark  speck  on  the  auroral  horizon 
of  literary  America.  Science,  scholarship,  mechanic  in 
ventions,  poetry,  arts,  in  one  word,  the  domain  of  intui 
tions,  of  knowledge,  as  well  as  that  of  imagination,  belongs 
almost  exclusively  to  New  England  and  to  the  other  froc 
States.  The  South  is  a  withered  desert.  And  as  in  the 
desert,  only  a  few  plants  are  brought  forth  by  nature's  crea 
tive  power  ;  so  in  the  slavery  land  it  is  only  a  puny  slave 
literature  that  thrives.  Forcibly  bent  and  circumscribed 
into  a  narrow  and  crooked  orbit,  the  southern  intellect  has 


SLAVERY.  215 

seemingly  lost  all  susceptibility,  it  shrinks  and  wastes  in  its 
restriction.  It  is  impossible  to  rise  into  the  higher  domains 
of  science,  to  think,  to  combine,  to  embrace  and  diversify, 
when  the  power  of  independent  investigation  is  thwarted 
in  man  by  absolute,  narrow,  preconceived,  and  deeply  im 
printed  notions.  But  the  South  is  proud  of  not  produ 
cing,  of  not  possessing  thinkers.  Poets  and  artists  can 
find  no  high  inspiration  and  impulse  in  the  clang  of 
chains.  In  the  feverish  excitement  which  surrounds  them 
on  all  sides,  the  inner  world  of  imagination  dissolves  and 
vanishes.  The  pro-slavery  or  the  southern  intellect  has 
only  one  issue  open,  is  impressible  but  by  one  single  phe 
nomenon,  directs  its  activity  towards  one  single  object, 
embraces  and  comprehends  only  one  single  problem,  and 
that  is  slavery.  Its  forced  literary  efforts  are  like  those 
of  a  paralytic  for  motion.  Disgust  and  sorrow  fill  the 
mind  in  wading  through  such  a  miasmatic  pool,  in  witness 
ing  such  a  defilement  of  the  noblest  faculties. 

European  pauperism — this  favorite  contrast  which  sla 
very  champions  urge  against  their  opponents — European 
pauperism  has  not  stifled  the  activity  of  mind,  has  not 
dried  up  or  cooled  the  heart-warmth  of  those  devoted  to 
intellectual  or  scientific  pursuits  and  occupations.  Where 
this  social  evil  is  the  most  deeply  rooted,  there  has  ap 
peared  against  it  the  most  vigorous  scientific,  philosophical, 
and  literary  reaction.  Statesmen,  moralists,  theologians, 
economists,  poets,  artists,  in  one  word,  all  those  whom  the 
all-embracing  genius  of  humanity  illuminates  and  incites 
in  various  ways — all  those  investigate,  analyze  the  evil,  try 
to  find  a  cure,  or  at  least  an  alleviation ;  others,  by  reality 
or  fiction,  depict  its  blighting  influence  on  the  poor  as  well 
as  on  the  rich.  Whatever  in  other  respects  may  have 
been  the  depravation  of  those  who  have  supported  by  their 
pen  the  abuses  of  caste  or  despotic  rule,  they  have  never 


216  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

sunk  so  low  as  to  proclaim  and  elucidate  scientifically  tie 
unavoidable  necessity  of  the  moral,  mental  and  material 
degradation  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  or  of  the  pauper?, 
to  uphold  it  as  an  imperative  condition  for  the  proletaries, 
and  for  those  in  a  position  above  them.  European  scienc  3, 
scholarship,  and  literature  preserve  and  maintain  tie 
sacred  rights  of  mental  independent  investigation.  In  tl.e 
minds,  in  the  souls  of  those  devoted  to  them,  the  sciences 
hover  above  the  world's  casualties.  Their  disciples  enter 
the  sanctuary  with  minds  purified  from  egotistical,  parti 
san,  degrading  influences.  They  shield  science  from 
being  forced  to  receive  the  watchword  from  reckless  pas 
sions.  The  few  who  act  differently  form  as  rare  excep 
tions  in  Europe,  as  do  those  in  the  Southern  region  who  dare 
to  maintain  the  independence  of  science  and  letters,  against 
the  all-crushing  mental  a*id  material  corrosion  of  slaver}. 

The  recognition  of  slavery  as  a  cardinal  social  and  po 
litical  element,  has  destroyed  the  true  statesmanship  which 
was  once  the  glory  of  the  Southern  region.  The  men  who 
engendered  the  revolutionary  epoch  and  the  independence 
of  this  country,  did  not  belong  to  the  range  of  pro-slavery 
convictions.  Patrick  Henry,  Washington,  Jefferson,  and 
the  other  great  patriots  of  that  time,  belonged  to  an 
anti-slavery  epoch.  Those  men  who,  as  patriots,  states 
men,  will  shine  immortal  in  the  annals  of  our  race,  those 
pilots  of  the  new-born  nation  among  the  breakers  surround 
ing  her  first  independent  movements — these  by  their  creed, 
their  culture,  their  convictions,  belonged  to  the  general 
Christian,  humane,  and  at  that  time  European  civilization. 
They  had  nothing  in  common  with  the  modern  exponents 
of  the  South.  In  common  with  the  moral  creed  of  the 
civilized  world,  they  recognized  in  slavery  an  evil,  a  curse. 
They  admonished  their  compatriots  to  arrest,  if  not  to  ex 
tirpate  it.  For  them  civic  virtue  and  patriotism  were  not 


Jf  SLAVERY.  217 

condensed  into  the  belief  in  slavery.  Its  modern  off 
shoots  in  the  councils  of  their  own  States,  or  in  those  of 
the  Union,  are  of  a  wholly  different  substance  and  mould. 
In  vain  one  searches  in  them  for  broad  conceptions,  for  an 
enlightened  and  warm  patriotism,  for  generously  elated 
and  high-toned  feelings,  for  wide-reaching  ideas.  Never 
in  history  can  be  pointed  out  such  a  rapid  decomposition 
and  degradation  of  the  mental  faculties,  as  well  as  of  no 
bleness  of  convictions,  as  is  found  in  the  juxtaposition 
of  the  men  of  the  anti-slavery  times  by  the  side  of  their 
actual  successors.  The  race,  the  blood  is  the  same ; — but 
conditions,  events  have  changed,  defiled  manhood  and 
mind. 

Such  a  degeneracy,  unprecedented  in  its  rapidity,  more 
and  more  thoroughly  permeates  the  Southern  society. 
And  no  wonder.  The  first  generation  of  the  heroes  of 
American  independence  encompassed  in  their  minds  the 
world,  with  its  elevated  aspirations.  Their  successors 
began  to  cut  themselves  willingly  off  from  all  communion 
with  the  generous  and  all-embracing  interests  of  mankind, 
concentrating  all  their  mental  powers  and  material  re 
sources  upon  the  organization  of  a  social  state  and  polity, 
outlawed  by  reason,  by  the  moral  sense,  by  the  tendencies 
of  the  age.  Quick  and  in  widening  circles  extends  the 
corrosion.  Now  the  younger  generation  distances  already 
in  virulence  and  blind  worship  of  slavery,  those  who  first 
abandoned  the  glorious  and  luminous  path  of  their  revolu 
tionary  sires.  Its  exasperation  against  freedom  and  hu 
man  rights,  its  hostility  to  discussion,  its  indifference  to 
wards  ennobling  and  fructifying  culture,  increases  in  pro 
portion  to  the  space  of  time  which  separates  it  from  the 
forefathers.  Those  drew  their  wisdom  from  the  fountain 
common  to  the  world's  civilization.  Now  the  deteriorated, 
secluded  social  organism  makes  public  education  more  and 
10 


218  AMEEIOA   AND   EtJEOPE. 

more  divergent  from  that  of  other  civilized  communities, 
more  and  more  circumscribed,  compressed.  In  this  ma:i- 
ner  pro-slavery  education  is  void  of  elasticity,  of  generality, 
of  free  choice,  is  trammelled  in  its  expansion.  The  ai  n 
publicly  asserted  is,  to  elevate  slave-breeders,  slavery  u  > 
holders.  The  avowed  tendency  is  to  turn  all  science  uo- 
side  down.  The  mental  and  moral  training  of  the  you^.h 
is  to  become  in  harmony  with  the  social  institution.  A. 
conclusion  logical  in  itself,  and  therefore  producing  re 
peated  appeals  from  divines,  professors,  politicians,  and 
the  press,  for  the  production  of  new  sources  or  books  for 
tuition  in  sciences,  history,  religion  and  morality,  all  to 
be  made  in  accordance  with  slavery. 

Such  a  proceeding  is  not  new  in  the  history  of  the 
attempts  and  efforts  to  degrade  reason,  to  blight  heart  and 
soul.  It  originated  withMhe  Jesuits.  In  order  to  de 
prave  the  youthful  minds,  the  Jesuits,  in  their  educational 
establishments,  adjust  the  sciences  to  suit  their  purpose. 
Ethics,  religion,  history,  positive  facts  and  phenomena, 
truth  recognized  by  ages,  are  perverted  and  form  the 
venom  instilled  as  knowledge.  So  they  have  poisoned 
generation  after  generation.  But  in  the  end  Jesuitism, 
Jesuits,  and  their  tuition  are  placed  without  the  pale  of 
civilization ;  and  human  reason,  human  freedom,  over 
clouded,  darkened  and  arrested  for  a  time,  emerge  victo 
rious  from  the  deadly  struggle. 

Such  are  the  characteristics  and  the  criteria  of  slavery, 
as  the  element  on  which  is  built  this  social  structure. 
Such  is  the  condition  into  which  it  drags  its  supporters, 
its  champions.  Thus  covered  with  sores,  the  Southern 
body  politic  loudly  proclaims  its  superiority  in  all  respects 
over  the  citizens  of  the  free  States,  and,  above  all,  over 
those  of  New  England,  The  aggregate  of  habits,  senti 
ments,  creative,  productive  energies,  of  intelligence  maid- 


SLAVERY.  219 

fested  by  the  freeman,  by  the  New  Englander,  is  in  salient 
contrast  with  those  in  which,  generally  or  habitually,  etio 
lates  the  man  of  the  South.  There  is  not  one  mental 
faculty,  not  one  attribute  of  genuine  manhood,  in  which 
the  Southerner  is  justified  in  claiming  any  superiority  over 
the  character  of  the  masses  of  the  Northern,  Western,  and 
Eastern  free  populations.  Because  the  freeman  or  the 
Yankee  does  not  spend  his  time  in  idleness,  because  on  def 
erence  to  the  individuality  of  others  he  bases  his  own  per 
sonal  honor  Jind  security,  and  thus  does  not  recur  to  the 
mean  and  brutal  usage  of  concealed  weapons,  it  is  not  a 
proof  that  he  lacks  genuine  courage.  A  civilized  man 
does  not  consider  fighting  as  the  paramount  duty.  His 
life,  his  activity  is  devoted  to  other  pursuits.  He  prefers 
to  study,  to  enlighten  his  mind,  to  work,  to  plough,  to  be 
occupied  industrially  in  manufactures  and  workshops,  to 
build  towns,  mills,  railroads,  farms,  to  live  peacefully,  raise 
well-bred  and  intelligent  families;  in. one  word,  to  honor 
humanity  in  a  true  manner,  rather  than  by  assailing,  kill 
ing  and  murdering  his  fellow-men.  The  civilized  man 
resents  a  personal,  wanton  outrage  by  the  self-consciousness 
of  moral  superiority,  of  that  of  mind  and  intellect.  All 
this  does  not  exclude  courage.  The  sons  of  New-England 
shed  the  first  blood  in  the  American  Revolution.  No 
chivalry  surpassed  the  heroes  of  Bunker  Hill.  The  Yan 
kees  numbered  the  most  largely  in  the  defence  of  inde 
pendence,  and  they  were  the  last  to  furl  their  flag  in  that 
terrible  struggle.  They  never  disgraced  their  country  by 
cowardice.  They  are  men  with  spirit,  courage,  endurance, 
and  deep  love  of  liberty,  and  they  remain  faithful  to  this 
their  common  mother. 

New  England,  with  the  free  States,  and  their  antago 
nists,  the  Southern  slave-holding  communities,  started  as 
two  mighty  meteors  from  one  and  the  same  point ;  but 


220  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

each  took  an  opposite  course.  The  one  ascending  into 
higher  and  purer  regions  of  light,  freedom  and  culture ; 
the  other  whirling  down  into  the  chaotic  night  of  preju 
dices,  abuses,  and  misconstructions  of  duties,  obligations, 
rights  and  mutual  relations.  And  the  fallen,  tarnishe*! 
meteor,  having  lost  faith  in  the  original  and  common  es 
sence,  envious  of  the  superiority  of  the  brilliant  one,  ac 
cuses  it  of  fanaticism. 

But  what  is  fanaticism,  and  what  makes  a  fanatic  ? 

The  initiation  of  human  kind  into  an  ascending  an  1 
superior  moral,  social  and  political  condition,  has  been  al 
ways  accomplished  by  self-conscious,  unyielding  mind;;, 
liberating  themselves  at  their  own  risk  and  peril  fron 
mental  or  social  bondage,  liberating  their  individual  deep 
and  ardent  convictions  from  subjection  to  establishes, 
worn-out  notions  or  forms.  '*  Such  fiery  minds,  identifying 
themselves  and  the  world  around  them  with  the  sacrei 
and  sublime  ideas  which  they  cherish,  have  been  commonly 
called  fanatics.  Such  fanatics  have  unhinged  and  moved 
onward  the  world  and  single  nations.  They  have  dragged 
human  society  out  of  the  mire,  and  given  to  it  a  fresh  and 
invigorating  impulse.  Such  a  state  of  mind  is  called  a 
fanaticised  one  by  those  averse  to  any  emancipation, 
amelioration  or  progress.  Christ  and  the  apostles  wcro 
criminal  fanatics  to  the  orthodox  high-priests,  the  Sanhe 
drim,  the  Pharisees.  Fanaticism  extends  to  all  sub 
jects  which  deeply  move  the  human  mind  and  heart. 
There  are  fanatics  in  religion  as  well  as  in  patriotism,  in 
the  love  of  liberty,  in  science,  in  arts.  Fanatics  for  the 
disenthralment  of  human  reason,  were  the  reformers  of  the 
16th  century.  Fanatic  for  science  was  Galileo  ;  for  po 
etry,  Tasso ;  for  philosophy,  Bruno,  Vanini,  Campanella. 
All  those  who  sacrifice  themselves  for  an  idea,  successful 
or  not,  an  idea  encompassing  an  emancipation  of  whatever 


SLAVERY.  221 

nature,  are  considered  by  the  vulgar  mind  as  fanatics. 
Such,  in  the  eyes  of  their  adversaries,  were  the  heroes  of 
the  American  and  of  the  French  Revolution.  So  fanatics 
are  now  those  who  rise  to  oppose  the  progress,  the  exten 
sion  of  slavery ;  who  devote  themselves  to  rescue  from  ig 
norance,  to  redeem  their  kindred,  their  white  countrymen 
and  their  former  colaborers  in  the  struggle  for  national  in 
dependence. 

Fanatics  are  those  who  above  the  transient  conven 
tions  made  between  men  recognize  the  prevalence  of  a 
higher  law  5  a  law  which  for  the  religious  mind  is  of  di 
vine  emanation,  which  for  the  moralist  proceeds  from  the 
inward  pure  essence  of  our  existence.  But  in  pagan  as 
well  as  Christian  times,  whatever  might  have  been  the  con 
ception  of  Divinity,  and  of  the  relation  of  man  to  it, 
whatever  might  have  been  the  moral  standard  of  society, 
the  variously  manifested  but  nevertheless  uninterrupted 
and  unequivocal  tendency  of  legislators,  and  even  often  of 
despots,  was  to  make  the  laws  more  or  less  harmonize  with 
what  was  recognized  as  the  higher  law.  And  woe  to  the 
society  or  nation,  when  its  laws  oppose  these  higher 
sources. 

Slavery  with  its  withering  breath  reaches  the  hearth 
stone  of  the  freeman  of  the  Free  States.  It  corrupts  there 
in  various  ways  the  public  mind  and  individual  character. 
In  the  generality  of  men,  passions,  interests,  ambition, 
often  get  the  upper  hand  of  the  most  generous  primitive  im 
pulses  and  principles.  Temptation  often  proves  irresisti 
ble,  and  the  rule  of  common  sense  as  well  as  of  morality 
is  to  avert,  to  keep  temptation  out  of  reach.  Thus  very 
naturally  the  better  part  of  the  people  in  northern  com 
munities  shudder  at  the  contact,  and  the  deleterious  influ 
ence  of  slavery  upon  their  citizens.  Thus  very  naturally 
the  sense  of  the  people  craves  to  circumscribe  slavery 


222  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

within  absolute  and  limited  precincts,  to  lessen  its  power 
in  the  general  political  relations  which  concern  the  whob 
Union.  Many  are  the  examples  of  men  of  the  Nort  i 
who  embraced  the  political  career,  pure  and  unstain 
ed,  who  would  otherwise  remain  true  and  faithful  t3 
freedom — this  vital  principle  of  the  American  body  politic 
— and  to  themselves;  but  who,  hardened  by  politics! 
struggles,  gnawed  by  ambition,  give  the  lie  to  themselves, 
abandon  and  deny  what  once  they  recognized  as  the  si> 
preme  good,  and  sell  their  conscience  to  the  support  of  the 
pro-slavery  party:  The  betrayed  must  mourn  the  loss  an  1 
fall  of  one  from  among  them,  and  they  are  justified  in  ai- 
tempting  to  preserve  others  in  future  from  pollution.  An  1 
the  only  way  to  reach  this  aim  is  to  render  the  slavery 
power  less  predominant  in  it&actionon  the  common  fathe]- 
land.  Manifold  are  the  enticements  which  generally  car 
ry  away  man  from  the  path  of  duty  5  and  those  growing 
out  of  the  community  between  the  free  and  the  slave  States 
are  diversified  in  their  action.  To  them  some  yield  from 
debility  of  mind,  some  by  the  weakness  of  an  otherwise 
good  heart,  others  by  want  of  character  or  obtuseness  of 
intellect,  others  by  fear,  others  again  by  egotistical  calcu 
lation  bearing  on  their  ambitious  schemes  or  on  commer 
cial  pecuniary  gains  and  advantages.  And  in  this  man 
ner  slavery  most  sensibly  wounds,  affects  and  vitiates  the 
free  communities. 

The  principle  of  justice,  its  character,  its  administration, 
becomes  daily  more  and  more  denaturalized,  alloyed,  and 
perverted,  by  the  alliance  of  freedom  with  bondage.  Often 
does  it  happen  that  the  Northern  judge,  when  the  interests 
of  humanity  and  freedom  clash  with  those  of  slavery, 
twists  and  tortures  the  law  to  wrest  from  it  constructions 
and  definitions  favorable  to  the  latter.  Often  the  clear 
est  principle  of  law,  as  established  and  consecrated  by  ju- 


*  SLAVERY.  223 

dicial  science,  as  well  as  by  the  successive  acquiescence 
and  common  use  of  civil  society,  if  contrary  to  slavehold- 
ing  interests,  is  made  nugatory  by  the  decision  of  a  partial 
judge.  The  spirit  of  eternal  justice  is  then  banished  from 
the  law,  and  the  dry  and  dead  letter  loads  and  overturns 
the  scales. 

Pauperism  has  not  hitherto  withered  and  blackened 
the  sanctuary  of  justice  in  the  majority  of  European  states. 
When  the  two  opposite  interests — that  of  the  poor  and 
destitute,  and  that  of  the  rich — are  brought  into  litigation, 
the  judge  would  rather  put  the  most  favorable  construc 
tion  of  the  law  on  the  side  of  the  poor.  Above  all  France, 
Prussia,  and  several  other  German  states,  preserve  unsul 
lied  the  impartiality  of  judicial  decisions. 

On  three  cardinal  columns  reposes  slavery  in  its  own 
home.  The  ministers  of  various  confessions,  the  press, 
and  the  public  leading  men — whose  influence  on  the  masses 
is  proportional  to  popular  passion,  shortsightedness,  indo 
lence  and  ignorance — form  this  triad.  They  stimulate  the 
pro-slavery  ardor,  they  justify  and  reconcile  it  with  the 
duties  of  man  and  of  citizen ;  they  blunt  the  consciences  of 
the  people  and  harden  them  against  the  outburst  of  gene 
rous,  humane  and  religious  feelings. 

The  ministers,  those  teachers  of  religion  and  morals, 
consecrate  by  the  authority  of  their  example  and  of  their 
words,  a  state  of  society  which  is  a  continual  outrage 
against  both.  In  no  other  Christian  country  do  the  min 
isters  of  religion  exercise  such  a  wide-spread  influence  as 
they  do  over  the  people  at  large  in  the  United  States.  But 
pusillanimity  or  worldly  interests  make  them  subservient  to 
the  imperious  commands  of  slavery.  Thus  they  have  iden 
tified  the  cause  of  their  God  with  the  cause  of  bondage 
and  of  chattelhood.  They  sustain  it  in  the  pulpit  and  in 
various  theological  and  would-be  biblical  writings  and  dis- 


224  AMEEICA   AND    EUROPE. 

quisitions  ;  not  to  mention  and  enlarge  upon  the  thorough 
absence  of  religious  instruction  among  the  slaves,  about 
the  immorality  which  must  necessarily  prevail  amo  )g 
those  victims,  abandoned  by  God  and  man.  Difficult  to 
be  sure  it  is  for  the  ministers  to  speak  and  expatiate  about 
divine  love,  mercy,  and  justice,  before  those  to  whom  :io 
love,  no  mercy,  no  justice  is  shown,  to  whom  the  quality 
of  man  is  contested.  At  the  marriage  of  the  slaves  t  ie 
religious  rite  becomes  degraded  by  the  minister  to  a  ludi 
crous  formality,  and  often  even  this  formality  is  autho  i- 
tatively  dispensed  with,  without  arousing  the  admonition 
or  the  holy  wrath  of  the  divines.  The  promiscuity  of 
sexes  between  the  blacks  is  not  only  tolerated  but  stim 
ulated  by  the  masters,  who  do  not  care  about  the  sac 
ramental  ceremony,  provide^  that  children  are  procreated 
and  the  stock  increased.  At  the  best,  the  master  himself 
ties  or  unties  the  matrimonial  knot  among  his  chattels. 
The  ministers  are  silent  as  to  the  birth  of  mulattoes,  who 
necessarily  must  be  the  fruits  of  adultery ;  neither  do  they 
thunder  in  the  name  of  God  against  the  sale  of  those  mu 
lattoes  by  their  parents  or  the  nearest  kindred. 

Those  privileged  depositaries,  and  guardians  of  what  they 
call  the  Word  of  God,  torture  it  in  order  to  make  it  be;ir 
witness  in  favor  of  the  biblical  justification  of  the  enslave 
ment  of  the  colored  race.  Those  apostles  and  expounders 
of  the  gospel  forget  the  words  of  St.  Paul  to  the  Athe 
nians  :  "  That  God  has  made  of  one  blood  all  races  of  men 
to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth."  On  it  dwells  the  black 
race.  If  that  race  might  even  have  been  doomed  to  ser 
vitude  by  the  curse  of  Noah, — in  the  true  spirit  of  Chris 
tian  salvation,  the  black  race  was  redeemed  together  with 
the  white  one,  by  the  sacrifice  on  Calvary,  from  previous 
hereditary  sins.  If  there  is  any  truth  in  the  theory  of  re 
demption,  then  the  death  of  Christ  atoned  for  the  sin  in 


&  SLAVERY.  225 

Eden,  and  for  that  committed  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Ara 
rat  as  well.  Or  if,  according  to  the  Southern  science,  the 
black  race  is  different  from  the  white,  and  inferior  to  it  psy 
chologically,  then  even  the  simulacreum  of  religion  ought 
not  to  be  thrown  before  it.  If  the  Africans,  children  of 
the  same  God,  descend  from  the  same  common  ancestor  as 
the  planters,  and  are  judged  worthy  to  be  embraced  in  the 
sacrifice  of  redemption,  if  before  the  majesty  of  God  they 
are  endowed  with  all  human  attributes,  and  deserve  to  be 
admitted  into  Christian  communion, — then  the  more  do 
they  possess  human  rights  and  attributes  in  worldly  rela 
tions.  A  religious  Christian  despoiling  his  spiritual  breth 
ren  of  their  inborn  rights,  commits  religious  and  moral 
fratricide,  commits  the  deed  of  Cain,  and  the  clergy  which 
sanctifies  such  a  spoliation  take  sides  with  Cain. 

Moreover,  in  no  way  can  American  slavery  be  justified, 
and  still  less  considered  as  being  authorized  by  the  Scrip 
tures.  Slavery  among  the  Hebrews  was  different  in  its 
origin  from  that  established  here.  Neither  Moses  nor  the 
Scriptures  maintain  that  such  or  such  race  is  predestined 
to  be  held  in  bondage  by  another.  The  ten  command 
ments  do  not  mention  slavery  or  slaves.  Jews  were  slaves 
one  of  another ;  Hebrew  servants  were  bought,  as  says  the 
Bible.  In  Egypt  the  Jews  had  no  slaves,  but  were  en 
slaved  themselves.  When  they  subdued  other  tribes,  or 
conquered  them,  they  transformed  their  prisoners  into 
slaves,  as  very  often  they  in  their  turn  were  enslaved  by 
the  contrary  fortunes  of  war.  Nowhere  does  the  Bible 
speak  of  slavery  as  of  a  social  institution,  but  as  of  one 
of  domestic  economy.  The  character  of  slavery  among 
the  Hebrews  was  accidental  and  transient,  as  it  was 
among  all  the  other  nations  of  that  time.  American  slave 
ry  is  a  permanent,  unredeemable,  social  state.  Jewish 
slaves,  of  the  same  origin,  at  certain  periods  were  liberated. 
10* 


226  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

Lepers  and  leprosy  existed  among  the  Jews,  and  the  Scrip 
tures  speak  of  it  more  than  of  slavery.  Should  it  there 
from  be  concluded  that  the  leper  and  leprosy  have  bibli 
cal  authority  for  their  necessary  existence  ? 

Slavery  at  the  time  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  was  of 
the  same  character  as  that  above  mentioned.  Christ  and 
the  apostles  considered  it  as  a  transient  human  evil,  and 
they  were  devoted  to  extirpating  the  cardinal  and  permu- 
nent  ones.  Teaching  brotherly  love,  equality  before  Go<l, 
they  undermined  slavery.  Christ,  Peter,  Paul,  and  tl  e 
other  apostles,  were  mechanical  working-men,  operatives, 
and  thus  paid  tribute  to  free  labor.  The  triumph  of  their 
doctrine  in  its  highest  purity,  as  conceived  by  them,  in 
cluded  the  cessation  of  all  kind  of  social  and  domestic  op 
pressions.  Further,  brother^  love,  if  realized,  destroys 
war,  and  thus  the  nursery  o*f  ancient  slavery  would  ha\e 
disappeared. 

The  Roman  clergy  in  America,  by  sustaining  slavery 
in  the  most  distant  manner,  act — even  if  possible — more 
revoltingly  than  the  ministers  of  the  other  denominations. 
At  the  side  of  the  original  Christian  doctrine  common  to 
all  those  confessions  and  denaturalized  by  them  all,  the 
Roman  clergy  recognizes  absolute  obedience  to  the  hier 
archy,  to  the  orders  issued  by  the  supreme  heads  of  that 
Church.  Siding  with  slavery  in  America,  the  priesthood 
abandons  the  multiplied  examples  given  by  the  clergy  at 
the  time  of  the  invasion  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Then  the 
Church  did  not  spare  moral  and  material  efforts,  and  used 
its  powerful  spiritual  authority  to  diminish  slavery,  to 
foster  the  emancipation  of  slaves.  Now  the  branch  of  the 
Roman  Church  in  this  country  puts  aside  the  various  de 
cisions  of  councils  and  synods,  and  flatly  disobeys  the  pos 
itive  admonitions  and  orders  of  various  Popes,  thus  incur 
ring  directly  or  indirectly  the  penalty  of  excommunication. 


SLAVERY.  227 

The  Roman  clergy  forget  the  explicit  words  of  Pope  St. 
Gregory  the  First,  admonishing  manumission  :  "  Homines 
quos  ab  initio  natura  creavit  liberos, — et  jus  gentium  jugo 
substituit  servitutis ; "  that  clergy  deliberately  oppose  the 
pastoral  letters  of  Paul  III.,  of  Urban  VIII. ,  of  Bene 
dict  XIV.,  above  all  that  of  Pius  II.,  who  specially 
blames  the  conduct  of  those  who  reduce  negroes  to  slave 
ry.  Finally,  the  clergy  directly  violate  th6  prohibitions 
contained  in  the  Ency clique  issued  in  1839  by  Pope  Greg 
ory  XVI.,  who  is  not  celebrated  in  history  for  mildness,  or 
for  any  liberal  propensities.  This  most  severe  absolutist 
and  reactionary  Pope,  "  in  virtue  of  his  apostolic  authori 
ty,  condemns  those  who  reduce  blacks  into  servitude,  or 
buy  and  sell  them;  and  by  the  same  authority  he  abso 
lutely  prohibts  and  interdicts  all  ecclesiastics  from  ventur 
ing  to  maintain  that  this  traffic  in  blacks  is  permitted 
under  any  pretext  or  color  ivhatsoever,  or  to  preach  or 
teach  in  public  or  in  private  in  any  way  whatever  any 
thing  contrary  to  his  apostolic  letters." 

The  press  of  the  pro-slavery  States  is  a  melancholy 
evidence  how  the  most  beneficial  agency  and  lever  of  civi 
lization  and  freedom  may  become  a  degraded  instrumen 
tality  of  blind  and  violent  passions.  It  shows  how  the 
misused  faculty  of  reasoning  can  become  nefarious  and 
pernicious  when  enlisted  in  favor  of  falsehood  and  outrage. 
The  Southern  press,  the  most  unrelenting  apostle  of  slave 
ry,  by  its  every-day  action  strengthens  the  prejudices  and 
emasculates  the  minds  of  the  credulous  and  uncultivated 
masses.  If  nothing  else  were  at  hand,  in  the  Southern 
press  one  can  study  and  become  perfectly  familiar  with 
the  intellectual  aberrations  in  which  slavery  entangles  and 
hurries  away  its  confessors.  Its  perusal,  repugnant  in 
itself,  is  nevertheless  the  most  instructive  with  regard  to 
the  deterioration  of  social  morality  and  manly  honor  by 


228  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

the  baneful  workings  of  this  institution.  All  its  tenei  s 
are  fully  exposed  by  the  Southern  press.  It  not  only  mi :•- 
rors  the  state  of  opinion,  but  it  is  as  a  focus  from  which 
radiate  the  most  extreme  and  vehement  incentives.  ]  t 
evokes,  Mirs  up  the  most  unbounded  and  hidden  passioi  s 
of  those  who  look  to  her  for  direction  and  advice.  ]'t 
encourages  all  the  violences  offered  to  the  laws  of  jus 
tice  and  civility.  It  preaches  and  incites  to  lawless 
ness,  to  the  murder  and  assassination  of  those  who  con 
sider  slavery  as  a  social  and  political  evil,  as  an  institu 
tion  degrading  more  the  master  than  his  chattel.  Thus 
even  the  murder  of  inoffensive  teachers  is  at  times  held  rp 
to  the  Southern  public  as  a  signal  service  rendered  to  soci 
ety.  The  press  carefully  nurses  all  the  perversions  of  sci 
ence,  of  polity,  of  public  and  domestic  economy,  adminis 
tering  poison  daily  and  in  largo  quantities.  To  its  ebulli 
tions  are  to  be  principally  ascribed  the  low  moral  tone,  tL.e 
mental  prostration  of  the  Southern  population. 

The  exceptions  to  this  general  character  of  the  pro- 
slavery  press  are  few  and  rare.  Still  fewer  are  the  instan 
ces  that  the  cooler  and  dignified  organs  sternly  rebuke  or 
repudiate  fellowship  with  those  who  sacrilegiously  prosti 
tute  the  elevated  mission  of  the  press. 

What  must  be  the  society  in  which  such  a  press  can 
spring  up,  and  which  endures,  supports,  and  patronizes  it  ? 

The  politicians;  the  public  men,  the  statesmen  of  slave 
ry,  belong  to  the  same  category,  and  go  hand  in  hand  with 
the  press.  As  if  by  reciprocal  compact,  they  do  the  ut 
most,  they  vje  with  each  other  in  distorting  the  judgment 
of  their  fellow-citizens.  If  some  of  them,  as  well  as  of  the 
members  of  the  press,  are  under  what  must  be  believed  to 
be  an  insane  exaltation,  by  far  the  greatest  number  foment 
deliberately  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  as  an  easier  way 
to  increase  their  personal  influence,  to  secure  the  leader- 


SLAVERY.  229 

ship  in  the  district,  the  State,  or  that  of  the  whole  party. 
If  ever  history  shall  preserve  their  names  from  oblivion, 
it  will  consign  them  to  irretrievable  condemnation. 

The  significance  of  America  in  the  development,  in  the 
march  of  the  Christian  world,  is  fully  and  exclusively  em 
bodied  in  the  Free  States.  Humanity,  history,  philos 
ophy,  civilization,  ignore  absolutely  or  repudiate  the  slave 
ry  connection.  Without  the  Free  States,  America  would 
lose  the  brilliant  halo  which  marks  her  as  the  harbinger  of 
the  future,  as  the  foremost  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
The  Slave  States  have  hitherto  passed  unnoticed  under 
the  fascination  emanating  from  the  holy  labarum  unfurled 
and  held  in  the  hand  of  the  intelligent,  active,  laborious, 
self-improving  freemen  of  the  Union.  The  Slave  States, 
separated  and  alone,  would  sink  at  the  best  into  absolute 
insignificancy,  would  become  of  less  interest  than  are  the 
Papuans  or  Polynesians  for  the  great  association  of  man 
kind. 

If  by  an  unforeseen  calamity,  Free  America  should 
become  palsied  in  its  onward  course,  if  ever  slavery  policy 
should  prevail  in  the  councils  of  the  united  nation, — then 
her  phenomenal  apparition  on  the  historical  horizon  will 
be  an  abortion,  a  social  mistake.  Then  she  will  stand 
there  branded  for  future  generations  and  future  ages, — the 
sign  of  disgrace  burning  for  eternity  on  the  brow  of  this 
fallen  genius  of  humanity. 


230  AMERICA  AND  EUKOPE. 


CHAPTEK  VL 

MANIFEST     DESTINY. 

NATIONS,  like  individuals,  have  destinies  to  fulfil.  Seldom 
individuals,  however,  as  well  as  nations,  have  had  a  clear 
comprehension  of  the  task  allotted  to  them.  Only  when 
their  course  was  run  could  it  be  said — that  their  destin.es 
were  ascertained. 

Hitherto,  science,  embracing  in  a  general  view  aid 
comprehension  the  tasks  variously  fulfilled  by  nations  and 
by  representative  men,  has  explained  their  respective  desti 
nies.  Science  has  unveiled  mysteries,  disentangled  and 
elucidated  combinations  of  events  complicated,  and  for  the 
most  part  otherwise  incomprehensible ;  events  by  which 
have  been  unfolded  the  destinies,  the  mission,  the  charac 
ter  of  various  epochs  and  peoples. 

Science  has  found  out  the  meaning,  and  pointed  out 
the  influence  of  the  various  conquests  and  invasions  on  the 
general  march  and  development  of  the  human  race ;  science 
has  explained  the  existence  of  a  Cyrus,  an  Alexander,  and 
the  insatiable  conquering  avidity  of  the  Romans,  and  thus 
has  mirrored  their  destinies.  These  various  conquests  have 
mediated  the  intercourse,  and  drawn  nations  nearer  to 
each  other.  They  were  terrible  and  rude,  but  nevertheless 
they  were  the  agencies  and  channels  of  civilization.  They 
were  a  bond  of  union.  Alexander  opened  the  door  to  the 
hellenization  of  Asia,  and  centuries  afterwards  Christian 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  231 

doctrine  and  science  profited  by  the  unity  of  language  pre 
vailing  since  Alexander  in  those  Greco-Asiatic  regions. 
The  Roman  conquests,  overhauling  the  world,  brought  and 
mixed  together  in  the  interests  of  general  culture,  nations 
scarcely  aware  of  each  other's  existence.  Roman  unity 
facilitated  the  first  steps  of  Christianity. 

Science  again,  long  centuries  after  the  event  took 
place,  explained  the  mission  and  revealed  the  destiny  of 
those  savage  barbarians,  the  destroyers  of  the  Roman 
world.  Clouded  and  veiled  to  the  actors  themselves  was 
generally  their  true  destiny ;  successive  ages  and  genera 
tions  have  lifted  the  veil  and  assigned  to  their  action  its 
historical  and  philosophical  significance. 

It  might  seem  therefore  unjustified  by  the  past,  for  a 
nation,  scarcely  equalling  in  existence  the  age  of  one  indi 
vidual,  to  proclaim  already  the  consciousness  of  its  mani 
fest  destiny.  But  few  if  any  among  the  axioms  derived  or 
framed  out  from  the  history  and  fate  of  the  old  nations  of 
Europe,  find  an  application  to  that  wholly  new  phenom 
enon  which  constitutes  the  American  nation.  Not  one  of 
the  past  or  of  the  existing  nations  of  the  old  world,  started 
in  social,  political  life  as  a  self-conscious  whole.  They  de 
pended  upon  founders,  heroes  or  chiefs,  and  thus  for  the 
most  part  they  have  been  blind  executors  of  the  impulses  re 
ceived  from  those  chiefs.  Rome  was  led  on  by  a  consolida 
ted  patriciate  having  the  paramount  aim  to  keep  down  the 
mass  of  the  Roman  people,  to  keep  it  busy  with  wars.  In 
the  past  the  Athenian  democracy  alone  had  at  times, 
lightning  like,  an  insight  into  its  manifest  destiny.  At 
such  moments  of  revelation,  Athens  perceived  that  her 
mission  was  to  democratize  the  Grecian  world ;  that  the 
interest  of  her  existence  was  to  be  surrounded,  not  by  en 
vious,  hostile  vassals,  but  by  freely  acting  and  moving  de 
mocracies.  The  aims,  the  undertakings,  the  ambitious 


232  AMERICA   AND   EtJKOPE. 

views,  the  tendencies  and  attempts  of  the  chiefs  and  lead 
ers  of  nations,  were  rarely  prosecuted  by  their  successc  rs, 
rarely  lived  through  two  generations.  And  when  they 
did,  it  was  rarely  beneficial  to  the  nations.  The  change 
of  the  person  of  the  ruler,  and  still  more  so  of  a  dynasty, 
was  accompanied  generally  by  a  change,  and  by  a  new  im 
pulse  to  the  internal  and  external  activity  of  the  whole 
nation.  Thus  nations  continually  directed,  conducted,  re 
ceiving  the  watch-word,  have  been  unused  to  rely  on  the  m- 
selves.  They  rather  groped  in  the  dark,  and  could  never  ar 
rive  at  a  clear  individual  as  well  as  concrete  comprehension 
of  their  destiny — of  the  what  for  and  whereto  of  their 
existence. 

True  it  is,  that  under  these  supreme,  individual  iniu- 
ences  and  impulses,  there  existed,  more  or  less  sensibly,  a 
kind  of  under-current,  divulging  the  true  tendency,  :he 
character  of  an  epoch,  and  of  a  nation,  the  more  so  when 
this  nation  stood  on  the  foreground  of  history.  This  car- 
rent,  powerful  at  times,  carried  away  the  leaders  who  hold 
in  their  grasp  the  destiny  of  the  governed;  but  oftener 
these  individuals,  strong  by  the  possession  of  power,  and 
still  more  so  by  the  patient  submission,  by  the  inherited  pre 
judices,  and  even  the  affections  of  the  masses,  have  thrown 
impediments  or  diverted  the  current  from  its  genuine  and 
normal  course.  So  the  predominant  power  of  the  Popes 
denaturalized,  deteriorated,  soiled  the  character,  the  exu 
berance  and  fulness  of  the  mind  of  the  Italians.  So  Charles 
V.  and  Philip  II.  arrested  the  tendency  of  the  Spanish 
mind  towards  religious  freedom  of  conscience ;  so  Catha 
rine  de  Medicis  and  her  two  sons  succeeded  in  extirpating 
the  religious  reform  in  France,  although  the  teaching  of 
Calvin  spread  in  its  first  period  with  ease  and  rapidity, 
showing  by  it  that  the  masses  of  the  French  people  were 
wholly  accessible,  and  inclined  towards  the  reformation. 


MANIFEST   DESTINY. 

From  the  time  of  its  conception  as  a  colony,  and  more 
so  from  its  birth-day  as  an  independent  nation,  the  Ameri 
can  people  outgrew  their  swaddling-clothes.  A  principle 
called  it  to  life,  and  each  individual  draws  from  this  foun 
tain,  according  to  his  power  and  capacity,  impulsion,  di 
rection,  and  consciousness.  The  principle  reveals  to  each 
one,  the  close  connection  of  his  destiny  with  the  destinies 
of  the  whole,  the  nation,  the  state.  This  uninterrupted 
transmission,  unchecked  by  events,  is  wholly  beyond  the 
reach  of  authoritative  decisions,  will,  and  influence ;  thus 
the  horizon  brightens  and  extends  before  the  intelligent 
perception  of  each  free  individual,  and  he  becomes  con 
scious  of  the  general  destinies  of  the  society  with  which 
he  lives,  moves,  and  acts.  As  small  sources,  brooks,  and 
rivulets  form  a  mighty  river;  as  countless  rays,  united, 
reveal  the  brilliancy  of  the  sun ;  so  from  countless  indi 
vidual  convictions,  tendencies,  and  actions,  clearly  appre 
ciated  and  comprehended,  independent  but  united,  is  formed 
the  powerful  current  of  national  life,  the  luminous  light 
projected  on  national  destinies.  The  onward  march  of  the 
people  is  not  led  by  an  individual,  nor  by  any  author 
itative  social  body ;  the  national  activity  and  intelligence 
are  neither  stimulated  nor  directed  by  any  power  acknow 
ledged  as  supreme.  Each  individual  is  as  a  ray  plunging 
into  the  mist  which  envelops  the  future,  and  the  millions  of 
rays  dissolve  the  cloud  which  overhangs  it.  The  self- 
consciousness  of  a  whole  people  more  completely  compre 
hends  the  problem,  and  works  out  its  solution  simultaneously, 
in  the  spontaneous  action  of  freely  associated,  intellectual 
and  material  forces.  And  so  the  respective  destinies,  which 
at  the  outset  of  their  journey  could  not  have  become  mani 
fest  and  visible  to  the  nations  of  the  past,  are  clearly  dis 
cerned  and  manifest  to  the  free,  self-improving,  self-direct 
ing  American  people. 


234:  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

The  races  and  nations  of  the  Old  World  reeled  in  dark 
ness;  often  pushed  here  and  there  by  availabilities  and  ex 
pediencies,  by  the  egotistical  aims  of  their  chiefs,  they 
pressed  on  each  other  in  their  passage  through  various 
states  of  society,  as  nomadism,  savagery,  barbarism;  a  ad 
so  they  do  even  now,  in  the  state  of  what  is  called  civili  na 
tion.  No  steady  purpose  has  directed  them  in  their  secu  ar 
course.  The  settlers  on  this  continent,  above  all  the  I'u- 
ritans,  at  the  first  stroke  of  the  axe  and  of  the  spade,  in 
the  first  furrow  of  the  plough,  laid  down  the  seeds  whose 
growth  has  kept  nearly  equal  step  with  the  increase  of  mate 
rial  forces  and  resources.  The  nations  of  the  past,  in  deadly 
struggle,  disputed  with  each  other  soil,  hearth,  and  food. 
Here  immense  primitive  spaces  invited,  and  for  centuries  to 
come  will  invite,  the  vivifying  and  reproductive  action  of 
culture  and  civilization.  The  then,  as  now,  comparatively 
small  number  of  aborigines  repel  civilization,  and,  to 
avoid  it,  deliberately  select  destruction.  It  was  and  is, 
therefore,  clearly  unveiled  to  every  American,  as  his  mani 
fest  destiny,  to  transform  the  wilderness  into  a  fit  abode 
for  man.  It  is  his  manifest  destiny  to  preserve  in  their 
purity  the  principles  of  social  equality,  freedom,  and  self- 
government,  which  nursed  and  rocked  the  cradle  in  infancy, 
which  instructed  the  youth  and  iuspire  the  manhood  of  the 
American  people. 

Until  now,  among  the  nations  of  the  Old  World,  some 
believe  that  they  have  to  settle  old  accounts  between  each 
other;  and  nearly  all  have  imperatively  to  do  this  with 
their  domestic  oppressors.  They  have  to  extirpate  and  to 
change  ;  so  much  dust  of  the  past  is  still  rising  in  clouds 
before  the  eyes  even  of  the  most  keen-sighted,  that  the 
piercing  into  the  future  seems  almost  impossible.  Social 
structures  are  tottering  and  crumbling.  Every  body,  the 
man  of  the  past  as  well  as  the  man  of  progress,  are  awe- 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  235 

struck  by  the  to-morrow,  which  is  dawning  menacingly  with 
destruction  and  desolation.  American  society,  having 
started  from  a  fixed  purpose  and  principle,  and  moving  on 
its  broad  orbit,  sees  clearly  before  her  ;  and  her  to-morrow 
is  not  hidden  by  clouds  and  uncertainties.  The  few  tran 
sient  specks  must  finally  dissolve ;  no  gifted,  selected 
prophet,  but  the  whole  intelligent  people  can  distinctly  see 
the  brighter  and  brighter  unfolding  of  its  manifest  destiny. 

Expand  civilization,  extend  culture  and  industry,  stim 
ulate  intelligent  activity  all  over  the  continent,  and  utilize 
its  various  and  almost  inexhaustible  resources,  together 
with  the  extension  of  those  institutions  to  which  the  Ameri 
cans  owe  their  greatness,  prosperity,  and  rapid  progress, 
owe  their  lofty  position  among  the  nations  of  the  earth ; 
all  this  is  a  simple  and  natural  revelation  and  development 
of  the  American  destinies.  Simple,  likewise  pure  and 
natural,  is  the  more  or  less  ardent  desire  to  make  and  see 
others  participate  in  the  good  which  one  enjoys.  In  some 
respects,  a  similar  desire  has  urged  all  apostles  and  firm 
believers,  to  spread  their  creeds.  Such  a  feeling  is  easily 
awakened  in  the  bosom  of  every  American,  and  easily  can 
we  conceive  his  belief,  that  this  task  of  extension,  geograph 
ically  and  socially,  is  his  manifest  destiny.  It  is  not  the 
tendency  in  itself,  but  the  ways  and  means  of  its  realiza 
tion,  which  in  some  cases  is  to  be  condemned. 

The  genuine  Yankee,  that  embodiment  of  intelligent 
activity,  penetrates  everywhere,  and  becomes  the  bearer 
of  a  new  word.  He  brings  civility,  culture,  restless  but 
productive  nimbleness,  shrewdness,  clear-sightedness,  in 
dustry  and  order,  inseparably  combined,  and,  above  all,  so 
to  say,  the  innate  power  and  faculty  of  social  constructive- 
ness.  "Wherever  he  sets  his  foot,  a  new  creation  seems  to 
sprout  out  of  the  soil.  Wild  nature  is  combated  and 
overpowered,  culture  dawns,  trade  stirs  up  the  indolence 


236  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

of  the  native,  Indian  or  white  ;  new  products,  that  is,  lew 
wealth  is  created ; — and  the  lazy  existence  of  the  inhab 
itants  enters  in  this  manner  upon  a  new  and  re-invigora  dng 
phasis.  Thus  the  Yankee,  the  man  of  the  Free  States,  the 
child  of  free  labor,  of  the  free  comprehension  of  life,  be 
comes,  in  the  new  region  entered  upon  by  him,  the  ape  stle 
of  a  new  social  creed,  the  creator  and  dispenser  of  new 
powers,  new  faculties,  new  enjoyments. 

The  Spanish  American,  in  that  respect  an  image  of 
the  modern  planter  of  the  slave  States,  started  with  en 
slaving  the  Iridians,  and  did  not  learn  the  secret  of  civi 
lizing  industry ;  did  not  learn  how  to  become  great,  powerful, 
and  rich,  not  by  oppression  and  spoil,  but  by  labor,  r  sso- 
ciation,  and  industrious  activity.  Thus  in  general  the 
Creole  population  becomes  v  impoverished,  and  sinks  into 
degradation.  The  exception  of  a  small  number  of  wealthier 
and  more  polished  individuals,  forming  a  distinct  c  ass, 
weakens  not  the  rule.  The  Creole  population  at  large  has 
hitherto  showed  itself  wholly  unable,  by  its  own  efforts,  to 
utilize  the  rich  natural  resources  of  the  regions  whic  i  it 
occupies.  From  the  start,  the  Spaniards  have  not  under 
stood  how  to  colonize,  but  only  how  to  be  tyrants  and  to 
plunder.  Their  progeny  and  descendants  have  inherited 
their  aversion  to  labor.  These  natives,  disciplined  in  indo 
lence  and  aversion  to  civilization  by  priestly  and  monkish 
example  and  rule,  are  inwardly  corroded,  and  cannot  keep 
pace  with  the  American.  They  must  in  the  long  run  suc 
cumb,  and  dissolve  in  the  great  genius  of  the  man  of  the 
North,  who  knows  how  to  overpower  and  tame  the  wilder 
ness,  to  lay  down  immovable  foundations  for  powerful 
States.  This  man  of  the  North,  settling  or  spreading  in 
those  regions,  meets  with  impediments  thrown  in  his  path 
by  the  opposition  of  darkness  to  light,  of  morbidity  to 
vigorous  health.  In  his  clear,  quick,  and  appreciative 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  237" 

comprehension,  he  has  only  in  view  what  the  country  ex 
plored  could  become,  if  recast  socially  by  him,  and  thus 
electrified  and  evoked  to  a  new,  vigorous  life.  He  knows 
that,  if  he  enriches  himself,  he  contributes  also  to  increase 
the  prosperity  of  the  community  at  large.  Opposition, 
obstacles,  stupidity,  irritate  him.  The  torpor  which  pre 
vails  in  men  and  their  institutions,  the  prejudices  which 
counteract  his  otherwise  beneficial  activity,  at  last  make 
him  ardently  desire  to  bring  all  the  external  conditions 
into  harmony  with  the  new  destinies,  of  which  he  is  even, 
sometimes,  the  unconscious  initiator.  So  step  by  step 
arises  the  wish  for  the  annexation  of  the  land  to  his  great 
commonwealth — sure  as  he  is  to  confer  in  this  manner  upon 
the  new  member  a  higher  social  and  material  condition. 
He  desires  to  accomplish  this  by  pacific  and  intelligent 
conquests.  And  American  conquests  do  not  create  de- 
Dendencies  and  colonies,  but  free  and  sister  States. 

Such  is  the  high  and  pure  development  and  working  of 
manifest  destiny.  It  has  however  its  low  and  impure  ex 
pression.  This  second  one  pours  out  from  the  unbridled 
coarseness  of  that  section,  which  directs  all  its  efforts  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  For  the  Slave  States'  manifest 
destiny  consists  in  propagating  the  cancer  which  is  eating 
them  up.  Not  liberty,  industry,  culture,  order,  are  to  be 
brought  to  other  regions ;  but  subjugation,  and  the  clank 
of  chains,  the  curse  and  the  groans  of  victims.  Not  the 
laborious,  the  civilized,  the  industrious,  but  the  idle,  the 
reckless  adventurer,  the  rough  and  ignorant,  are  the  bearers 
of  this  kind  of  destiny.  Not  the  factory,  the  mill,  im 
proved  agricultural  implements,  the  school,  the  law,  are  to 
be  transplanted  ;  but  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  master,  the 
slave-pen,  the  domestic,  internal  slave-trade,  ignorance  and 
misery.  The  originators  and  the  carriers  of  such-like  gifts 
are  not  men  bound  upon  the  honest  pursuits  of  life,  but 


236  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

of  the  native,  Indian  or  white  ;  new  products,  that  is,  new 
wealth  is  created; — and  the  lazy  existence  of  the  inhab 
itants  enters  in  this  manner  upon  a  new  and  re-invigorat  ng 
phasis.  Thus  the  Yankee,  the  man  of  the  Free  States,  he 
child  of  free  labor,  of  the  free  comprehension  of  life,  be 
comes,  in  the  new  region  entered  upon  by  him,  the  apo&tle 
of  a  new  social  creed,  the  creator  and  dispenser  of  new 
powers,  new  faculties,  new  enjoyments. 

The  Spanish  American,  in  that  respect  an  image  of 
the  modern  planter  of  the  slave  States,  started  with  on- 
slaving  the  Indians,  and  did  not  learn  the  secret  of  civi 
lizing  industry ;  did  not  learn  how  to  become  great,  powerful, 
and  rich,  not  by  oppression  and  spoil,  but  by  labor,  asso 
ciation,  and  industrious  activity.  Thus  in  general  ihe 
Creole  population  becomes  impoverished,  and  sinks  into 
degradation.  The  exceptiorj^of  a  small  number  of  wealthier 
and  more  polished  individuals,  forming  a  distinct  class, 
weakens  not  the  rule.  The  Creole  population  at  large  lias 
hitherto  showed  itself  wholly  unable,  by  its  own  efforts,  to 
utilize  the  rich  natural  resources  of  the  regions  which  it 
occupies.  From  the  start,  the  Spaniards  have  not  under 
stood  how  to  colonize,  but  only  how  to  be  tyrants  and  to 
plunder.  Their  progeny  and  descendants  have  inherited 
their  aversion  to  labor.  These  natives,  disciplined  in  indo 
lence  and  aversion  to  civilization  by  priestly  and  monkish 
example  and  rule,  are  inwardly  corroded,  and  cannot  keep 
pace  with  the  American.  They  must  in  the  long  run  suc 
cumb,  and  dissolve  in  the  great  genius  of  the  man  of  the 
North,  who  knows  how  to  overpower  and  tame  the  wilder 
ness,  to  lay  down  immovable  foundations  for  powerful 
States.  This  man  of  the  North,  settling  or  spreading  in 
those  regions,  meets  with  impediments  thrown  in  his  path 
by  the  opposition  of  darkness  to  light,  of  morbidity  to 
vigorous  health.  In  his  clear,  quick,  and  appreciative 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  237 

comprehension,  he  has  only  in  view  what  the  country  ex 
plored  could  become,  if  recast  socially  by  him,  and  thus 
electrified  and  evoked  to  a  new,  vigorous  life.  He  knows 
that,  if  he  enriches  himself,  he  contributes  also  to  increase 
the  prosperity  of  the  community  at  large.  Opposition, 
obstacles,  stupidity,  irritate  him.  The  torpor  which  pre 
vails  in  men  and  their  institutions,  the  prejudices  which 
counteract  his  otherwise  beneficial  activity,  at  last  make 
him  ardently  desire  to  bring  all  the  external  conditions 
into  harmony  with  the  new  destinies,  of  which  he  is  even, 
sometimes,  the  unconscious  initiator.  So  step  by  step 
arises  the  wish  for  the  annexation  of  the  land  to  his  great 
commonwealth — sure  as  he  is  to  confer  in  this  manner  upon 
the  new  member  a  higher  social  and  material  condition. 
He  desires  to  accomplish  this  by  pacific  and  intelligent 
conquests.  And  American  conquests  do  not  create  de- 
Dendencies  and  colonies,  but  free  and  sister  States. 

Such  is  the  high  and  pure  development  and  working  of 
manifest  destiny.  It  has  however  its  low  and  impure  ex 
pression.  This  second  one  pours  out  from  the  unbridled 
coarseness  of  that  section,  which  directs  all  its  efforts  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  For  the  Slave  States'  manifest 
destiny  consists  in  propagating  the  cancer  which  is  eating 
them  up.  Not  liberty,  industry,  culture,  order,  are  to  be 
brought  to  other  regions ;  but  subjugation,  and  the  clank 
of  chains,  the  curse  and  the  groans  of  victims.  Not  the 
laborious,  the  civilized,  the  industrious,  but  the  idle,  the 
reckless  adventurer,  the  rough  and  ignorant,  are  the  bearers 
of  this  kind  of  destiny.  Not  the  factory,  the  mill,  im 
proved  agricultural  implements,  the  school,  the  law,  are  to 
be  transplanted  ;  but  the  arbitrary  will  of  the  master,  the 
slave-pen,  the  domestic,  internal  slave-trade,  ignorance  and 
misery.  The  originators  and  the  carriers  of  such-like  gifts 
are  not  men  bound  upon  the  honest  pursuits  of  life,  but 


24:0  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

insatiable  desire  to  extend  the  American  nation.  In  face 
of  their  past  history,  as  well  as  of  their  present  uninter 
rupted  proceedings,  it  does  not  behoove  any  of  the  Europe  in 
states  to  upbraid  America.  Not  by  war  and  violence,  but 
by  agreement  and  purchase,  the  American  Union  reach  }d 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Pacific,  everywhere  int]  o- 
ducing  civilization,  industry,  and  culture.  Even  the  i  c- 
quisitions  made  by  the  war  with  Mexico,  have  been  paid 
for ;  an  action  unknown  and  unwonted  in  the  history  )f 
any  other  victorious  nation  or  government  on  earth.  No 
one  at  that  time  anticipated  the  riches  of  California,  a  id 
European  states  'have  no  reason  to  complain,  that  they  &ee 
that  once  savage  and  abandoned  region,  transformed  ii;to 
an  orderly  and  flourishing  State.  While  America  pur 
chased  and  extended  itself  over  the  wilderness  and  un 
peopled  solitudes,  England  Almost  daily  overthrows  a  id 
absorbs  organized,  populous,  and  rich  empires  in  Ind  a, 
extending  over  thousands  of  square  miles,  and  with  mil 
lions  and  millions  of  population.  English  conquests  are 
destructive ;  American  purchases  and  annexations  are  or 
ganic  and  creative.  Therein  lies  the  whole  difference. 
England  extorts  tributes,  imposes  heavy  taxes,  presses 
down  and  impoverishes  the  natives  : — America  promotes 
new  life,  not  for  her  own  sake,  not  for  her  exchequer,  but 
for  the  benefit,  advancement,  and  interests  of  all  other  na 
tions.  France  and  Russia  extend  their  dominion,  the  one 
in  Africa,  the  other  in  Asia  5  and  their  conquests,  in  their 
civilizing  purpose  and  character,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the 
regions  over  which  they  are  extended,  have  a  certain  simili 
tude  to  the  American  annexation.  If  other  European 
states  and  sovereigns  do  not  engage  in  warfare  and  con 
quest,  it  is  not  the  will,  but  the  possibility  which  is  want 
ing.  Each  of  them  has  invaded,  conquered  on  a  small 
scale,  as  much  as  it  could  at  given  circumstances  and 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  24:1 

epochs.  Austria,  Prussia,  Piedmont,  would  readily  ab 
sorb  their  neighbors,  if  they  were  not  mutually  checked 
by  each  other,  or  by  other  states.  Among  them  all, 
America  alone  can  proudly  raise  its  brow,  and  not  shrink 
from  historical  and  political  comparisons. 

The  consciousness  of  carving  out  the  manifest  destiny 
of  this  continent,  inaugurates  a  new  distinct  policy  for 
America,  in  her  relations  with  others,  above  all  with  Euro 
pean  governments.  The  technical  name  of  this  policy, 
called  the  Monroe  doctrine,  is  only  its  partial  enunciation. 
In  its  full  comprehension,  this  policy  is  the  utterance  of 
maturity  and  manhood,  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  historical 
mission. 

This  continent  ought  to  be  independent  and  sheltered 
from  any  direct,  that  is,  governmental,  or  indirect,  political 
and  diplomatic  influence,  to  be  exercised  in  any  way  by 
European  powers.  It  is  natural  to  the  free  Union,  to 
look  for  an  end  of  the  colonial  dependency  of  any  region 
on  this  continent  upon  what  is  called  the  mother  countries ; 
it  is  natural  to  see  the  Americans  extend  their  flag,  to  shield 
other  States  here  from  the  baneful  breezes  of  European 
policy.  The  European  monarchies,  based  all  of  them  with 
out  exception  on  prerogatives  and  privileges,  surrounded 
by  various  kinds  of  aristocracies,  are  conjured  not  to  allow 
a  republic  to  start  among  them,  to  preserve  the  royal  and 
aristocratical  brotherhood  untouched.  It  is  natural  and 
logical  that  this  commonwealth  wishes  and  tends  to  be 
surrounded  by  a  cluster  of  sister  democracies.  It  is  logical 
and  natural  that  it  tends  to  see  the  whole  continent  fully 
emancipated.  No  dependency  ought  to  exist.  The  natu 
ral  bonds  between  Europe  and  America  are  only  those  of 
commercial  intercourse  and  exchange,  and  of  ideas  and 
notions ;  all  on  the  footing  of  absolute  political  equality. 
The  supremacy  of  Europe  over  the  internal  affairs  of  this 
11 


24:2  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

whole  continent  must  and  ought  to  have  an  end.  It  is 
natural  and  logical  for  the  United  States,  that,  embodyii  g 
a  new  and  higher  social  principle  in  its  vigorous  grown 
and  expansion,  they  should  assert  their  rights,  and  spe;  k 
to  the  old  world  peremptorily  in  the  name  of  the  new  one. 
The  American  Republic  does  not  interfere  with  the  annexa 
tions  and  extensions  carried  out  by  various  European  powers 
on  the  other  parts  of  the  world ; — but  it  is  her  most  sacred 
duty  to  repel  any  encroachments  of  Europe  on  the  soil  (>f 
America,  as  well  as  to  repel  the  intervention  of  European 
policy  in  any  relations,  domestic  or  external,  of  the  North  )r 
South- American  'States.  It  is  duty  and  right  to  put  a  term 
in  the  name  of  this  new  world,  to  the  arrogant  and  unjustifi 
able  assumption  of  European  monarchical  governments,  to 
regulate  in  any  way  the  affairs  of  this  hemisphere.  T  le 
real  supremacy  of  Europe  iu>the  arts,  in  several  branches 
of  manufactures,  industry,  science,  and  literature,  will  by 
itself  preserve  its  influence.  This  supremacy,  of  which  t  le 
European  people  are  the  creators,  is  independent  of  t  le 
action  on  it  of  the  governments.  These  civilizing  and 
pacific  channels  alone  can  unite  the  two  worlds.  Europe 
might  still  serve  in  many  mental  and  intellectual  respect  s, 
as  a  master  to  America ;  nevertheless  the  action  of  the 
currents  is  reciprocal.  But  the  governments  of  Europe 
are  not  so  constituted  as  to  exercise  any  beneficial  influ 
ence  on  this  continent.  Against  them  alone  is  to  be  di 
rected,  in  its  fullest  meaning  and  extent,  the  Monroe  doc 
trine.  The  European  governments,  on  the  contrary,  in 
questions  of  general  policy,  must  yield  to  the  principles 
asserted  by  the  American  Republic.  This  irrefutable  in- 
iluence  of  reason,  as  proclaimed  by  America,  has  already 
enforced  upon  the  European  powers  the  modification  of  tlie 
maritime  laws  concerning  neutrals.  Before  long,  Europe 
will  be  obliged  to  recognize  the  superiority  of  the  princi- 


MA1STIFEST   DESTINY.  243 

pies  laid  down  by  the  United  States,  and  accept  in  full  the 
law  of  absolute  respect  by  belligerents  of  all  private  prop 
erty  on  the  high  seas,  a  principle  put  forward  and  urgently 
advocated  by  the  American  policy. 

From  whatever  point  of  view  we  regard  the  question, 
Europe  has  not  a  right  to  interfere  on  this  continent. 
Only,  if  America  should  tread  down  the  sacred  principles 
wherein  she  originated  ;  if  America  should  swerve  and 
abandon  the  luminous  orbit  of  freedom  and  civilization, 
pervert  her  character,  and  use  her  power  for  extending 
and  implanting  slavery  in  regions  where  it  does  not  exist, 
or  where  it  has  been  already  abolished ;  in  one  word,  if 
extension  of  the  Union  should  become  synonymous  with 
bondage  and  chattelhood,  with  the  slave-trade ;  then  only, 
as  the  positions  would  thus  become  reversed,  and  Europe 
defend  a  holier  principle,  her  intervention  and  her  defence 
of  sacred  human  rights  would  be  justified  before  the  tribu 
nal  of  justice,  morality,  civilization,  and  history. 

Europe  ought  not  to  have  any  footing  on  the  American 
continent.  Justly,  likewise,  the  European  powers  will 
never  allow  to  the  American  Republic  to  acquire  any  foot 
hold  in  Europe.  In  this  respect,  both  the  continents 
ought  to  be  absolutely  independent  and  free  of  each  other. 
Under  no  pretence,  American  interference  with  European 
internal  affairs,  with  wars  or  revolutions,  would  be  justi 
fied.  Principles  and  example  are  the  only  agencies — moral 
ones — of  the  action  of  America  on  the  old  world.  No 
other  republican  propaganda  could  justly  be  put  forward ; 
and  if  attempted,  then  the  governments  of  Europe,  of 
whatever  character,  free  or  absolute,  ought  to  coalesce  and 
repel  the  intrusion. 

The  emancipation  of  European  nations  must  be  worked 
out  from  within  themselves,  and  with  the  ideas,  notions,  and 
material  means  that  exist  among  them.  Their  condition 


24:4  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

is  a  volcanic  one — eruptions  will  succeed  one  another — 
perhaps  for  a  long  time,  before  a  brighter  future  can  dawn 
upon  that  part  of  the  world.  Whatever  may  be  this  fu 
ture,  and  its  final  organism  and  form,  it  must  be  constructed 
and  shaped  from  existing  data  and  elements,  and  not  in 
imitation  even  of  the  American  social  development. 

As  has  been  mentioned  in  previous  chapters,  the  Eu 
ropean  nations  have  few  if  any  elements  of  self-govern 
ment.  The  comprehension  of  its  principles  is  not  familiz.r 
even  to  the  most  advanced  reformers.  Self-government, 
to  be  beneficial,  can  only  be  handled  by  masses  in  an  ad 
vanced  state  of  civilization,  like  those  of  New-England  and 
of  some  of  the  other  Free  States.  Otherwise  it  is  a  dan 
gerous  and  damaging  experiment.  Already  its  functions 
begin  to  be  distorted  and  desecrated,  by  the  weight  of  tl  e 
ignorant  and  barbarian  masf^?s  that  pour  in  here  from  tl  e 
old  world.  The  future  of  Europe  is  thickly  veiled  ;  it  is 
a  problem  whose  solution  belongs  to  new  men,  to  new  gen 
erations.  America  cannot  even  render  the  service  of  a 
midwife  or  nurse  in  this  painful  delivery.  The  European 
nations  are  in  a  peculiar  condition  ;  various  ideas  and  con 
ceptions  of  future  reform  and  reconstruction  ferment  in 
their  brain ;  and  out  of  them,  in  due  time,  under  propitious 
circumstances,  will  emerge  the  word  of  regeneration.  No 
action  of  America  ought  to  precipitate  the  advent  of  that 
hour.  Forced  deliveries  bring  forth  generally  sickly  abor 
tions.  If  the  European  peoples  are  unable  by  themselves 
to  break  their  chains,  to  raise  by  themselves  a  new  social 
structure,  no  helping  of  America  can  be  of  any  real  utility. 
The  populations  of  Europe  outnumber  ten  times  that  of 
the  Union  •  an  American  expedition  to  support  any  nation, 
will  be  like  adding  a  drop  to  the  Ocean.  If  the  European 
nations  rise  simultaneously  against  their  present  rulers, 
then  they  ought  to  be  strong  enough  to  expel  them ;  if 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  245 

each  will  try  single-handed,  then  the  allied  kings  will  be 
strong  enough  to  repel  and  annihilate  any  armed  interven 
tion  from  America,  The  European  nations  are  divided 
into  two  camps ;  and  their  oppressors  are  supported  by  the 
natives  themselves.  It  was  not  any  foreign  help  or  inter 
vention  that  strangled  liberty  in  France  and  Germany, 
but  domestic  troops.  Frenchmen  fought  against  French 
men  in  the  streets  of  Paris  on  the  2d  of  December.  Prus 
sian  troops  quietly  put  down  the  liberal  movement  in 
Berlin,  and  fought  in  Dresden  and  Baden.  Austrian 
troops  stormed  Vienna  for  their  Emperor.  As  long  as 
these  central  nations  of  Europe  are  unable  to  disenthrall 
themselves,  the  smaller  ones  will  be  oppressed  and  depend 
upon  the  fate  of  the  greater.  France  and  Germany  reor 
ganized,  oppression  in  Italy  ends  as  by  a  spell. 

Europe  is  not  wanting  in  sinewy  arms  to  fight  her  bat 
tles,  nor  in  implements  of  warfare.  Arsenals  and  manu 
factures  are  teeming  with  weapons  sufficient  to  arm  the 
whole  active  population.  All  the  material  means  are  pos 
sessed  by  Europe  in  proportions  far  surpassing  what 
America  could  effect  as  an  ally  of  the  struggling  nations. 
Men,  arms,  money — European  capital  flow  continually  to 
this  point.  The  continent  of  Europe  possesses  immense 
accumulated  wealth  in  gold  and  silver.  It  is  the  problem 
of  the  revolutionist,  to  get  hold  of  these  resources.  At  the 
present  moment,  in  the  banks  which  sprout  out  in  all 
points  of  Germany,  in  imitation  of  the  American  system, 
there  lies  deposited  in  bullion  far  more  than  in  all  the 
chartered  banks  of  the  United  States.  Sums  large  enough 
to  vivify  any  revolution.  Taxes  now  levied  by  rulers  can 
be  turned  into  the  revolutionary  chests.  What  paltry  aid 
could  America  contribute  in  comparison  with  such  re 
sources,  and  of  what  small  use  could  this  aid  be  ? 

America  is  admonished  by  some  revolutionary  apostles 


24:6  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

to  pay  her  debt,  contracted  by  the  succor  tendered  her  ly 
France  against  England.  But  America  had  at  that  tin  e 
neither  arms,  sufficient  men,  nor  money.  All  these  objec  s 
are  now  abundant  in  Europe.  The  conditions  are  wholl) 
different,  and  it  is  no  ingratitude  in  this  country,  if  si  e 
does  not  arm  in  favor  of  political  parties  struggling  in 
Europe.  The  liberals,  the  reformers  are  seemingly  in  mi 
norities  ;  otherwise  they  would  not  want  any  support. 
And  if  they  cannot  succeed  without  foreign  help  in  es 
tablishing  their  principles,  how  will  they  maintain  then- 
selves  when  this  help  shall  retire  ?  It  is  therefore  in  i  o 
way  the  manifest  destiny  of  America,  to  interfere  wiih 
European  broils,  or  to  propagate  revolutions  on  that  co  i- 
tiuent. 

The  European  and  the  American  social  worlds  ought 
each  to  run  a  distinct  and  separate  course,  in  special  orbits, 
without  interfering  with  each  other.  Like  the  celestial 
bodies,  they  could  be  under  the  influence  of  combined  at 
tractions,  and  like  them  they  ought  to  move  in  the  social 
space,  without  clashing  with  and  impeding  one  another. 
Civilizing  and  commercial  interests  alone  are  to  inter 
twine  them.  Both  have  the  same  problem  before  them, 
namely,  to  secure  the  greatest  attainable  freedom  and 
material  happiness  to  the  masses.  The  solution  of  tlie 
problem,  it  is  likely,  will  be  worked  out  differently  by 
both  parts  of  the  world,  as  both  find  themselves  in  different 
conditions.  The  human  race  for  ages  aspires  and  tends 
to  the  realization  of  justice  and  reason  ;  sages  and  legisla 
tors  have  had  the  same  aim,  but  their  conceptions  and 
comprehension  have  differed.  From  Zoroaster,  Pythago 
ras,  Plato,  Solon,  down  to  Fourier  and  to  our  times,  the 
great  object  of  social  organization  has  been  to  secure  to  men 
and  harmonize  moral  and  material  welfare.  This  harmony 
was,  above  all,  the  aim  of  Christ,  and  is  the  tendency  of 


MANIFEST  DESTINY.  247 

well  understood  Christianity.  Through  John,  his  most  be 
loved  and  most  spiritual  disciple,  Christ  said,  "  that  his  king 
dom  " — that  is,  the  kingdom  of  love  and  justice — "  is  not 
now  of  this  world,"  Christ  therefore  did  not  exclude  from 
happiness  the  material  existence  of  man,  but  comprehended 
the  earthly,  material  kingdom  united  with  the  spiritual,  mo 
ral,  or  heavenly  one.  Man's  happiness  in  this  world,  that  is, 
Christ's  kingdom,  could  not  have  been  based  on  the  mate 
rial  misery  of  humanity,  or  of  its  greatest  number.  Christ 
therefore  foretold  the  realization  of  this  harmonious  union, 
when  the  seeds  of  fraternity  and  love  sown  by  him  should 
have  purified  man's  nature.  That  man  is  to  be  in  full  pos 
session  of  moral  and  material  development,  enjoyment,  and 
beatitude  on  this  earth,  Christ  taught  in  the  daily  prayer, 
still  repeated  by  millions  and  millions  of  the  Christian 
world.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  to  come  to  man ;  that  is 
in  the  conditions  of  his  existence  here  below ;  and  not  that 
man,  miserable,  poor,  destitute  here,  but  transformed  by 
death,  is  to  go  hereafter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

The  European  nations  gravitate — very  slowly,  it  is 
true — towards  a  general  amelioration  of  their  social,  moral, 
and  material  condition  5  but  the  American  commonwealth 
can  by  no  material  fact  or  action  advantageously  accelerate 
the  European  movement.  The  American  destiny  and 
duty  is  to  watch  over  this  continent,  to  accomplish  by 
peaceful  means  its  emancipation  from  European  rule. 
Colonies  and  dependencies  must  sooner  or  later  disappear 
from  the  new  world.  European  governments  will  be 
obliged  by  the  force  of  events  to  resign  all  supremacy,  and 
give  up  their  possessions  on  the  American  continent.  The 
now  independent  Union  contributes  more  to  the  prosperity, 
to  the  industrial  and  commercial  development  of  England, 
than  could  ever  have  been  done  by  the  colonies.  The  same 
will  be  the  case  with  Canada^  when  it  has  once  outgrown 


248  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

the  European  governmental  swaddling-clothes.  As  has 
been  said  before,  there  still  exist,  and  will  exist  for  a  Ion* 
time  to  come,  various  moral  and  intellectual  accomplisl- 
ments,  securing  a  partial  leadership  to  Europe.  Bot  i 
hemispheres  have  a  great  deal  to  exchange  peacefully,  an  1 
to  learn  from  one  another. 

It  would  seem  that  any  forcible  transmission  or  prop;  - 
gation  from  West  to  East  is  contrary  to  the  laws,  to  the 
tendencies  of  nature.  Science  and  history  show  that,  since 
the  formation  of  the  present  earthy  surface,  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  animals,  man,  and  ideas,  have  marched  from  the 
East  towards  the  West.  Such  was  the  principal  currer.t 
of  the  migration  of  the  historical  races,  and  in  their  trail 
that  of  useful  domesticated  animals,  of  seeds  and  plants. 
In  the  East  were  born  the  religious  and  philosophic?  1 
ideas  which  animated  the  Ckristian  civilization.  As  the 
Greeks  drew  from  the  East  the  primitive  rays  of  culture, 
enriching  and  multiplying  them  in  their  own  exuberant  in 
dividuality,  so  the  post-Roman  Europe  gathered  the  remains 
of  Grecian  civilization ;  and  on  Aristotle,  Plato,  and  th-3 
other  lights  of  the  classical  world,  were  nursed  those  minds 
which  begat  in  all  its  variety  the  modern  European  social 
and  philosophical  culture.  The  American  social  stato 
sprouted  out  from  rudiments  brought  from  Europe ;  puri 
fied,  to  be  sure,  and  recast,  remodelled,  under  the  pressure 
and  action  of  new  conjunctures  and  causes. 

Hitherto  the  West  has  never  strongly  reacted  on  the 
East.  Alexander's  empire  dissolved  as  soon  as  built ;  tho 
Seleukides,  the  Ptolemies  became  absorbed  by  the  Eastern 
luxurious  life,  and  a  mongrel,  feeble  Greco-Asiatic  culture 
issued  from  these  violent  nuptials.  Home,  after  conquering 
the  East,  broke  down  under  the  effeminacy  resulting  from 
this  conquest,  and  finally  the  East  separated.  The  Popes 
of  Rome  could  never  subdue  the  Eastern  Church ;  the  ef- 


MA10FEST   DESTTtfY.  249 

forts,  the  devotions,  the  sacrifices  of  the  Crusades  dissolv 
ed  in  nothingness.  Napoleon  unsuccessfully  battered  the 
East  through  Egypt  and  Russia ;  and  even  recently  the 
efforts  of  Europe  to  break  through  the  Eastern  spell  were 
foiled  before  Sebastopol. 

Europe  has  received  all  the  animals  and  useful  nutri 
tious  seeds  and  plants  from  Asia,  and  transferred  them  to 
America.  Coffee,  sugar,  cotton,  those  rich  staples  are  of 
Eastern  origin.  Even  the  bee,  whose  original  home  is 
the  western  slope  of  the  Ural  Mountains,  thrives  here, 
when  it  cannot  in  any  way  be  propagated  east  of  the  above 
named  mountains.  The  original  products  of  the  American 
continent  have  not  contributed  largely  to  the  benefit  of 
Europe  or  of  the  East.  Aside  from  a  few  medical  plants 
of  real  utility,  of  a  few  spices,  of  caoutchouc,  the  great 
staples  introduced  to  Europe  since  the  discovery  of  this 
continent  consist  of  potatoes  and  tobacco,  both  of  rather 
dubious  qualities  in  regard  to  their  utility  and  influence 
on  the  domestic,  economical  and  sanitary  condition  of  the 
European  population.  The  exaggerated  culture  of  the  po 
tato  has,  it  may  be,  occasionally  preserved  the  people 
from  famine,  in  various  European  countries;  but  it  has 
also  often  occasioned  it.  Some  attribute  to  the  potato 
the  extension  of  the  scrofula  among  the  continental  pop 
ulations.  Above  all,  however,  the  culture  of  the  potato 
has  enormously  increased  the  production  of  alcohol,  and 
thus  intemperance,  and  all  its  retinue  of  misery,  destitu 
tion,  crimes  and  vices,  have  been  facilitated  and  increased 
over  the  greatest  part  of  Northern  Europe — as  Germany, 
Sweden,  Norway,  Russia,  Austria.  Tobacco,  having  be 
come  almost  a  necessary  of  life,  even  for  the  poorest, 
without  any  nutritious,  but  with  rather  a  deleterious  in 
fluence  on  the  health, — is  therefore  an  unproductive,  and 
in  many  ways  an  impoverishing  discovery.  Maize,  or  In- 
11* 


250  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

dian  corn,  is  traced,  by  some  scientific  investigators,  io 
Asia,  whence  it  might  have  been  brought  to  this  continei  t 
at  some  remote  period.  In  the  south  of  Europe,  mabe 
has  long  been  known  and  cultivated,  although  not  on  a 
large  scale — wheat  being  preferred.  In  Italy,  Southern 
Germany,  the  Slavonias,  the  Danubian  Principalities,  and 
in  Southern  Russia,  maize  is  called  Turkish  wheat,  or  cucr,- 
ruzza;  in  Greece  it  has  the  name  of  arabositi,  or  of 
Arabian  wheat  or  corn. 

The  animals  of  this  continent  are  useless  for  Europe. 
The  breed  of  the  alpaca  was  tried  in  Europe,  but  unsuc 
cessfully,  while  the  sheep  spreads  here  with  the  same  facil 
ity  as  in  the  old  world.* 

A  community  and  a  political  state  originating  in  prii  - 
ciples  of  reason  and  of  peace,  ought  not,  it  would  seem,  to 
breathe  the  martial  spirit  which  prevails  in  America. 
This  anomaly,  however,  is  the  result  here,  as  elsewhere, 
of  feelings — probably  inborn  generally  in  human  nature — 

*  It  is  curious  to  observe  to  what  extent  the  Americans  identify 
themselves  with  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  belonging  to  this 
continent,  and  existing  prior  to  its  discovery.  They  generally  con 
sider  as  a  slight  to  their  country  any  mention  of  the  superiority  or' 
European  animals  or  vegetation  over  those  of  America.  They  defend 
it  against  the  charge  of  diseases,  whose  origin  science  or  history  at 
tributes  exclusively  to  America  when,  she  was  possessed  by  the  In 
dians.  It  is  generally  maintained  that  syphilis  was  unknown  to  tho 
old  world  previous  to  the  discovery  of  America.  The  Spaniards  took 
it  from  the  natives  and  brought  it  to  Europe.  It  is  said  that  from 
Spain  it  came  to  Naples,  Italy,  and  France,  receiving  the  name  in 
these  two  last  countries  of  the  Neapolitan  disease,  as  it  was  and  is 
still  commonly  called  in  Germany  and  in  the  whole  North  the  French 
one.  Mr.  Prescott,  the  narrator  of  the  reign  of  Ferdinand  and  Isa 
bella,  relying  on  some  doubtful  and  obscure  quotation  and  authorities, 
is  glad,  as  he  says,  to  prove  that  syphilis  was  known  in  Europe  two 
years  previous  to  the  voyage  of  Columbus,  and  that  the  Indians  and 
their  continent  can  be  whitewashed  from  the  slander. 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  251 

or  which  otherwise  became  natural  to  man  by  being  im 
pressed  on  his  mind  through  the  uninterrupted  action  of 
long  ages  and  countless  generations.  Military  glory,  mil 
itary  achievements,  have  always  dazzled  the  imagination 
of  the  masses.  Even  the  soundest  and  most  clear-sighted 
intellects  usually  succumb  to  the  charmer,  and  become 
lost  in  the  admiration  of  bloody  laurels.  From  the  hour 
of  the  first  association  of  man,  from  the  time  of  the  first  so 
cial  structures,  patriarchates,  empires,  kingdoms,  or  repub 
lics,  the  history  of  the  world  re-echoes  the  war-strife,  and 
its  great  heroes  are  conquerors,  and  the  world-unhinging 
captains.  It  was  and  is  firmly  rooted  in  the  minds  of  even 
eminent  moralists  and  philosophers,  that  war  is  the  neces 
sary  baptism  of  a  self-asserting  nation,  that  war  is  a  pow 
erful  agency  in  the  service  of  civilization.  Contrary 
convictions  pierce  slowly,  and  toilsomely  they  come  to 
daylight.  But  a  very  long  time  will  run  before  peace  and 
not  warfare  shall  become  an  absolute  social  and  political 
fact,  a  historical  law.  The  American  Commonwealth  in 
augurated  itself  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  by  the 
baptism  of  blood.  After  the  first  and  glorious  victory, 
the  old  enemy,  envenomed  by  defeat,  taunted  the  young 
nation.  It  was  difficult  for  England  to  renounce  the  idea 
of  her  ephemeral  military  superiority,  and  she  thirsted  for 
an  occasion  to  revenge  the  affront.  In  1812,  unjustly  as 
sailed,  the  Union  learnt  that  it  ought  always  to  be  prepar 
ed  to  meet  and  repulse  unscrupulous  enemies,  "  Quivis 
pacem  para  bellum,"  is  an  ancient  saying ;  and  America 
must  be  armed  for  emergencies.  But  America  will  never 
assail  Europe.  In  the  present  condition  of  general  pol 
icy,  some  of  the  European  powers,  however,  might  in  ex 
treme  cases,  throw  the  torch  of  war  upon  the  shores  of 
America. 

A  free  man  feels  the  value  of  liberty,  and  is  always 


252  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

ready  to  defend  it  heartily,  without  compulsion.  But  wi  1 
and  devotion  are  not  sufficient;  drill  and  skill  increase  a 
hundredfold  the  powers  of  defence  and  action.  The  or 
ganization  of  national  militias,  principally  in  view  of  re 
pulsing  a  foreign  enemy  or  invader,  nourishes  and  stimu 
lates  the  martial  predisposition.  And  well  it  is  that  in 
the  present  condition  and  relations  with  other  powers,  this 
spirit  is  entertained.  It  is  even  shameful  and  ridiculous 
to  see  youth,  preposterously  imagining  itself  to  be  some 
thing  better  than  the  great  bulk  of  the  people,  to  see  th  s 
sham  aristocracy  declining  to  partake  in  the  duties  and 
exercises  on  which  depend  the  peace,  the  immediate  desti 
nies  of  the  fatherland.  As  long  as  justice  and  reason 
shall  not  absolutely  rule  the  various  political,  external,  nay 
even  internal  relations,  war  must  always  be  possible 
Declining  are  the  destinies  o£  a  country,  which  is  obliged 
in  case  of  emergency,  to  recur  to  mercenaries,  even  if  ro- 
cruited  among  its  own  population.  A  small  standing  army 
might  not  prove  thus  fatal,  but  the  experience  of  ages 
teaches  that  such  armies  finally  become  tools  for  oppres 
sion.  Free  states,  republics,  have  tended  towards  destruc 
tion,  when  wealth  and  effeminacy  dissolved  the  martial 
spirit — when  the  rich  and  poor  youth  avoided  the  civic 
military  duties,  and  when  mercenaries  stepped  into  their 
place.  So  Thebes,  and  above  all  Athens,  after  the  Pelo- 
ponnesian  wars,  saw  the  ancient  spirit  slowly  expiring 
among  them.  The  Athenians  became  disused  to  arms — 
unable  to  cope  with  the  trained  Macedonian  bands — they 
recurred  to  mercenaries,  and  the  last  hour  of  Athenian 
and  Grecian  liberty  was  marked  on  the  dial  of  ages. 

There  is  no  danger  that  the  preservation  of  the  mar 
tial  spirit,  in  the  free  and  civilized  States  of  the  Union, 
will  degenerate,  and  become  tantamount  to  a  savage,  reck 
less  spirit  of  assault,  invasion,  and  piracy.  The  popula- 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  253 

tion'of  those  States  value  the  worth  of  civilization,  of 
peace  and  its  blessings ;  they  prefer  the  quiet  pursuits  of 
agriculture  and  industry,  the  family  hearth,  to  the  roving 
idleness  of  military  bands  and  expeditions.  Not  among  the 
intelligent  freemen  are  such  bands  started  and  recruited. 
Slavery  institutions,  promoting  idleness  and  contempt  for 
labor,  inculcating  from  childhood  perverted  notions  on  the 
duties  and  relations  of  a  member  of  society,  breed  individ 
uals  -who  contract  habits  that  fully  qualify  them  to  be  food 
for  gunpowder.  Among  the  populations  of  the  Slave 
States,  as  well  as  among  the  scum  of  large  cities,  individ 
uals  therefore  can  be  easily  found  who  are  ready  to  risk 
their  charmless  life  in  the  invasion  of  other  pacific  nations. 
Such  a  spirit  has  nothing  in  common  with  that  noble  mar 
tial  one,  which  is  vivid  in  the  men  of  Free  States,  the  no 
ble  defenders  of  their  homes  and  liberties,  but  not  savage 
aggressors  on  those  of  others. 

America  as  a  nation  is  so  situated  that  her  extension, 
even  if  aimed  at  indefinitely,  can  be  accomplished  more 
easily  by  peace  than  by  aggression.  The  band  of  the  fed 
eration  is  limitlessly  elastic.  To  it  gravitates — at  pres 
ent  it  may  be  imperceptibly — the  North  and  the  South — 
Canada  as  well  as  the  republics  of  Central  America.  That 
the  result  of  such  union  will  be  the  successive  disappear 
ance  and  dissolution  of  the  Creole  race  in  its  own  shiftless- 
ness,  is  almost  indubitable.  In  Louisiana,  Florida,  the 
original  native  elements,  living  on  equal  rights  with  the 
new  comers,  preserving  their  respective  idioms  in  all  the 
every-day  and  domestic  relations,  vanish  or  are  absorbed, 
dissolved,  by  the  preponderating  influence  of  the  language 
used  by  the  law,  in  politics  and  in  business,  used  for  gen 
eral  and  public  education,  as  they  are  absorbed  by  the  in 
flux  of  new  occupants.  The  same  will  occur  with  the 
Spanish  inhabitants  of  the  central  states  or  of  Cuba,  if 


254:  AMERICA  AND  EUKOPE. 

they  shall  enter  the  Union.  They  will  yield  the  path  :o 
the  northern  man,  (not  however  to  the  slavery  extenders 
and  pirates,)  to  his  superior  activity,  industry,  culture,  r> 
bustness  of  mind  and  of  body.  And  those  among  the  na 
tives  who  may  be  able  to  keep  step  with  the  men  of  the 
North,  will  merge  in  the  new  culture  and  language,  ai  d 
only  the  family  names  will  tell  of  the  original  difference. 
It  is  this  certainty  of  absorbing  by  the  superiority  of  i  i- 
tellectual  muscle,  other  populations  coming  in  contact  wi-h 
him,  that  increases  in  the  American  of  the  North  his  far  h 
in  the  manifest  destiny.  By  this  superiority,  and  by 
peaceful  arts,  industry,  commerce,  he  attracts;  by  the 01 
he  increases  the  national  wealth  in  colossal  proportions ; 
and  can  buy  lands,  paying  for  them  millions,  as  he  did  o 
the  Indians,  and  annex.  Canada,  united  already  by  ide  i- 
tity  of  birth,  of  language,  and  of  interests,  must  final  y 
by  her  own  free  choice  throw  away  her  royalist  livery,  ar,d 
become  an  independent  and  self-acting  member  of  the 
federation. 

The  preservation  of  the  martial  spirit  is  not  therefore 
an  agency  or  a  lever  for  the  fulfilment  of  manifest  desti 
nies — as  those  destinies  are  not  pregnant  with  the  curte 
and  calamities  of  war.  War  is  inborn  among  the  nations 
of  past  and  of  modern  Europe,  ft  exhausts  their  material 
resources,  demoralizes  their  respective  populations,  dis 
abling  them  for  freedom  and  for  its  acting  soul — self-gov 
ernment.  War  in  the  life  and  development  of  America 
is  an  excrescence  on  the  social  body,  an  excrescence  pro 
duced  by  an  irritating  action  from  without,  or  by  the  fer 
mentation  of  the  impure  elements  created  inwardly  in  the 
body  by  the  deviation  of  a  part  of  the  nation  from  the 
fundamental  principles  of  reason  and  justice,  from  which 
America  draws  her  life. 

The  European  nations  and  governments  can  only  be 


MANIFEST    DESTINY.  255 

losers  by  carrying  a  war  against  the  American  republic. 
This  conviction  they  acquire  daily.  They  and  not  Amer 
ican  industry  and  commerce  will  suffer  losses  and  stagna 
tion  ;  an  industry  which  the  American  consummation  thus 
eminently  contributes  to  nourish.  England  stands  fore 
most  among  the  European  powers,  which  from  tradition 
and  false  policy,  is  more  prompted  than  others  to  interfere 
with  matters  concerning  this  continent,  and  thus  create 
complications  which  could  reach  so  great  irritation,  as  to 
require  forcibly  to  be  cooled  by  war.  But  even  in  Eng 
land,  opinion,  enlightened  by  material  interests,  supports 
the  efforts  of  the  friends  of  reason,  civilization,  and  hu 
manity,  aiding  them  to  smooth  difficulties  and  solve  them  in 
a  peaceable  way.  The  results  of  a  struggle  between  the 
two  nations  would  be  calamitous  beyond  calculation.  Nev 
ertheless  such  a  struggle,  if  protracted  for  several  years, 
would  end  in  the  prostration  of  England,  and  in  the 
thorough  industrial  emancipation  of  the  United  States. 
All  the  branches  of  domestic  industry,  most  of  them 
having  at  home  inexhaustible  resources  in  the  necessary 
raw  material,  being  thus  stimulated  by  the  exclusion  of 
foreign  imports,  would  take  wing,  and  free  the  country  for 
ever — even  for  times  of  peace — from  external  competition 
and  overflowing.  To  be  sure,  the  influx  of  English  capi 
tal  would  have  an  end ;  but  comparing  the  sums  exported 
from  the  United  States  in  gold  to  pay  for  foreign, 
above  all  for  English  merchandise,  this  capital  remaining 
at  home,  put  in  circulation  and  employed  productively, 
would  compensate  for  the  English  investments.  Domes 
tic  wealth  would  increase  with  the  expansion  of  domestic 
industry,  and  new  capital  would  be  created.  The  conti 
nental  system,  during  the  reign  of  Napoleon,  has  after  all 
eminently  contributed  to  develope  industry  in  France  and 
Germany.  The  United  States,  possessing  inexhaustible 


256  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

iron  ore  and  coals,  nevertheless  cover  the  soil  with  im 
ported  rails,  laid  often  over  regions  where  crude  iron,  kft 
idle  on  the  surface,  stares  in  wonder  at  such  a  waste  and 
neglect  of  domestic  means.  Prussia,  after  years  of  pio- 
tection,  is  ready  now  to  compete  with  England  in  iron, 
and  Prussian  competition  will  be  limited  only  by  the  in 
sufficient  quantity  of  raw  material.  America  could  lig  it 
furnaces  and  sink  shafts,  equalling  at  least  in  number 
those  in  England,  and  America  imports  iron  wares.  Fur 
naces  kindled  in  America  would  extinguish  those  burning 
in  England  for  the  American  demand ;  and  English  mi 
ners  and  workmen  after  a  war  would  be  obliged  to  emi 
grate  to  this  country,  following  the  demand  for  their  lab  >r 
and  skill.  The  same  would  be  the  case  with  many  oth  )r 
branches,  which  once  developed  during  the  war,  would  for 
ever  exclude  England  from  tjie  American  market. 

England  per  contra  would  be  unable  to  find  any  whe*e 
the  sufficient  quantity  of  cotton  for  her  mills — which 
would  become  stopped  by  a  war,  and  the  operatives  throTv  n 
upon  the  streets.  Thus  by  a  war  the  demand  for  labor 
would  increase  in  America,  decrease  in  England.  In 
peace  English  industry  depends  in  a  great  measure  on  this 
country.  Nowhere  can  England  find  such  prosperous 
consumers,  and  who  demand  such  large  supplies.  Eng 
land  exports  more  to  the  United  States  than  to  all  Eu 
rope,  with  her  more  than  two  hundred  millions  of  popula 
tion.  From  whatever  aspect  it  is  considered,  England 
alone  would  be  a  heavy  loser  by  a  war. 

America's  expansive  tendency  and  internal  develop 
ment  would  not  be  arrested  by  a  war.  The  losses  in  men 
and  capital  would  become  speedily  compensated.  European 
powers,  as  well  as  European  nations,  daily  and  daily  more 
clearly  understand,  that  the  prosperity  of  that  hemisphere 
increases  with  the  preponderating  influence  of  North 


MANIFEST   DESTINY.  257 

America.  England  gets  more  than  the  lion's  share  of  the 
gold  from  California,  transformed  as  by  a  spell  from  an 
unknown  solitude  into  a  flourishing  community,  by  the  ex 
pansive  energy,  the  activity,  the  constructiveness  of  the 
freemen  from  the  free  States.  The  creative  and  untiring 
activity  of  these  genuine  Yankees  covers  the  pestilential 
marshes  with  railroads,  clears  the  forests,  subdues  wild 
nature,  and  aids  the  surplus  of  European  populations  to 
take  possession  of  those  primitive,  or  badly  cultivated  re 
gions.  The  free  North  Americans  are  alone  born  to  start, 
to  create,  to  organize  and  direct  new  communities,  and 
thus  to  facilitate  the  efforts  of  Europeans.  They  alone 
possess  the  required  self-consciousness  and  energy,  and 
above  all  the  inborn  faculty  of  social  organization.  By 
the  extension  of  American  freedom  Europe  becomes  bene 
fited,  and  new  and  prosperous  marts  are  opened  as  outlets 
for  her  industry. 

War  will  not  therefore  prevent  the  progress  of  America, 
and  is  not  necessary  to  forward  the  fulfilment  of  her  manifest 
destiny.  Not  war  alone,  however,  requires  human  sacri 
fices.  Fate  or  providence  demands  from  man  to  pay  with 
his  life  every  initiation,  be  it  a  warlike  or  a  pacific  one. 
This  terrible  law  towers  over  the  destinies,  the  progress, 
the  mental,  moral  and  material  development  of  our  race. 
The  turning  up  into  culture  of  new  soils,  poisons  and  kills 
the  first  cultivator.  The  richer,  the  more  exuberant  is 
nature,  the  deadlier  the  strife,  the  more  destructive  her 
powers  of  defence,  the  greater  the  number  of  victims. 
But  the  death  of  the  fallen  in  those  battles  of  exploration 
and  culture,  is  productive  of  good  to  their  immediate  fol 
lowers  ;  and  labor,  capital  often  seemingly  lost  and  in 
gulfed  in  such  civilizing  enterprises,  are  generally  re 
trieved  by  those  who  follow  in  the  cleared  up  path.  Many 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  and  millions  of  capital  and 


258  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

material  destroyed  in  wars,  remain  for  ever  lost  and  u  i- 
productive.  With  the  money,  the  material  and  the  labor 
of  men  destroyed  in  the  last  Eastern  war,  the  whole  ( f 
Central  America  could  have  been  transformed  into  a 
healthy,  flourishing  habitation  for  a  free,  active,  indus 
trious,  and  vigorous  race ;  her  mountains,  marshes  and  ri r- 
ers  been  intersected  by  easy  ways  of  communication,  ard 
the  tropical  region  finally  conquered  for  the  free  labor  cf 
the  white  man. 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  259 


CHAPTEE  VII. 

FOREIGN     ELEMENTS. 

FREEDOM  and  social  equality,  freedom  enjoyed  by  man's 
labor  and  industry,  the  security  of  his  earnings  from  gov 
ernmental  exactions  and  taxes,  the  facility  of  acquisition 
of  land  and  property,  the  continually  increasing  demand 
for  labor,  skill,  industry,  these  constitute  the  magical  at 
tractions  exercised  by  America  over  the  old  world.  From 
all  regions  of  the  old  continent,  as  from  so  many  human 
rolling  cataracts,  partial  currents  separate,  setting  forward 
toward  the  West.  Individuals,  families,  and  it  might  be 
said,  populations  from  whole  communes  and  districts  wan 
der  in  search  of  an  amelioration  which  Europe  can  in  no 
way  proffer  or  secure  to  them.  Every  race,  nation,  tribe, 
lineage,  generation,  every  language  and  idiom,  from  the 
South  and  the  North,  from  the  East  and  the  West,  sends 
forth  its  sprouts,  and  the  thus  ethnologically  and  geo 
graphically  checkered  Europe,  becomes  transferred  to  this 
country. 

Two  currents,  however,  pre-eminently  pour  in  large 
masses  of  immigrants,  so  as  to  absolve  or  render  compara 
tively  insignificant  the  increase  of  population  from  other 
nationalities.  Ireland  and  Germany  form  the  principal 
nurseries  which  send  here  the  greatest  mass  of  new-comers, 


260  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

out  of  whom  are  composed  these  cardinal  foreign  < ele 
ments,  whose  influence  and  weight  must  necessarily  be  ?elt 
on  the  psychological,  social,  political,  and  material  de^el- 
opment  of  America. 

Considered  from  the  purely  material  standpoint,  for 
eign  immigration  supplies  a  want  and  a  demand  which 
never  could  have  been  satisfied  by  an  ordinary  increase  of 
the  original  population  since  the  constitution  of  the  na 
tion;  and  without  which  the  Union,  under  any  circumstances, 
could  never  have  reached  so  rapidly  its  present  pios- 
perity  and  elevated  position  among  the  nations  of  the 
earth.  The  foreign  influx  fertilizes  in  various  ways,  ;  nd 
fosters  the  growth  of  America.  Increase  of  population, 
increases  production  and  consumption.  Labor  increases 
the  general  capital  and  wealth,  to  a  hundredfold  in  this 
country ;  labor,  as  represented  in  artisans,  mechan  cs, 
operatives,  daily  laborers,  *workingmen,  by  whose  hands 
railroads  and  channels,  mills,  furnaces,  industrial  estab 
lishments  are  completed,  cities  erected,  prairies  brokan, 
forests  cleared.  Whatever  might  be  the  unquestionable 
power  and  skill  of  the  Americans,  without  the  bulky  sup 
ply  of  hands  coming  from  Europe,  material  impossibility, 
the  want  of  sufficient  labor  would  have  prevented  or  de 
layed  the  accomplishment  of  the  industrial,  commercial 
and  agricultural  wonders  which  amaze  and  perplex  the 
old  Europe. 

To  obtain  and  secure  the  above-mentioned  results,  all 
the  diversified  imports  of  populations  from  Europe  con 
tribute  variously  and  in  proportion  to  their  special  irain- 
bers,  and  mostly  in  harmony  with  their  previous  occupa 
tions  and  vocations.  Before,  however,  a  complete  amal 
gamation  of  those  elements  with  the  intellectual  and  po 
litical  life  of  America  can  be  thoroughly  accomplished — 
an  amalgamation  only  possible  in  a  long  process  of  time — 


FOREIGN  ELEMENTS.  261 

these  elements  necessarily  affect  in  various  ways  the  func 
tion  of  American  institutions  and  of  her  internal,  social, 
and  political  condition. 

The  English  and  Scotch  who  come  to  this  country, 
find  themselves  among  homogeneous  elements.  United  by 
blood,  creed,  language,  understanding  already  the  rudi 
ments  of  liberty  and  its  working  on  society  and  on  the  indi 
vidual,  they  are  normally  prepared  to  learn  and  receive 
the  higher  degrees  of  initiation  into  the  rights  of  social 
manhood.  They  do  not  generally  occasion  any  confusion 
in  the  existing  conditions,  but  fall  in  with  ease  into  the 
great,  social,  developing  movement.  Not  so  the  mass  of 
Irish.  Issuing  from  a  state  of  barbarism,  nay  from  that 
of  savage  brutism,  in  which  twofold  oppression  and  ty 
ranny  have  kept  them  for  long  centuries,  the  mass  of  Irish 
immigrants  is  unable  to  acquire  a  perception  and  insight 
into  the  new,  and  for  them  unwonted  and  unthought  of 
existence.  Of  course  there  are  exceptions,  numerous  and 
highly  honorable.  Many  Irishmen  bring  here  cultivated 
minds,  others,  so  to  say,  dissolve  in  the  American  life, 
abandon,  at  least  to  a  great  extent,  the  clannish  connec 
tion  and  discipline,  and  in  various  pursuits  of  life  count 
among  the  best  and  most  useful  members  of  the  commu 
nity.  But  these  exceptions — rather  limited  in  proportion 
to  the  mass,  do  not  change  the  nature,  the  character  of  the 
Irish  immigration  of  these  last  twenty-five  years. 

European  history  in  its  manifold  compound  of  nations 
and  states,  does  not  know  an  Irish  nation.  The  Irish 
never  formed  one.  By  no  event,  by  no  line  are  they  re 
corded  as  a  state,  in  the  general  movement  of  post-Roman 
or  Christian  Europe.  They  never  possessed  any  form  of 
a  judicious  and  independent  civil  government,  never  gave 
any  such  manifestation  externally  in  contact  or  relations 
with  other  nations  and  states.  All  the  criteria  which 


262  AMERICA   AND    EUROPE. 

constitute  a  nation,  a  political,  intelligent,  internally  fruit  ?ul 
nationality,  have  never  existed  or  come  to  light  on  that  island. 
Neither  are  the  Irish  a  fair  sample  of  the  mighty  Celtic  ra  3e. 
Accepting  even  in  the  fullest  signification  the  theory  of  racas, 
they  may  be  compared  to  a  powerful  tree  with  a  cluster  of 
branches.  Some  of  these  branches  bear  fruits,  some  :-e- 
main  unproductive,  verdant  to  a  certain  degree,  but  ueA  er 
blossoming,  and  dying  out  fruitless.  Such  a  branch  are  the 
Irish,  in  the  historical  development  of  the  great  Celtic  ste  n. 
The  Irish  improve  when  denationalized  psychologically 
and  physiologically ;  when  brought  into  new  social  cc  n- 
ditions,  and  crossed  with  other  races.  They  alone  amo  ig 
the  whole  Celtic  race  are  intemperate.  Intemperance,  now 
almost  innate  to  the  Irish,  might  have  been  the  result  of  c  e- 
grading  oppression,  and  might  have  been  to  a  certain  degree 
a  result  of  the  contact,  the  intercourse  with  English  and  An 
glo-Saxons,  as  intemperance*  forms  a  prominent  charactc  r- 
istic  of  the  German  race,  and  was  recorded  by  Tacitus, 
though  so  friendly  to  them.  The  bumper  does  not  occupy 
such  an  eminent  position  in  the  heroic  and  chivalrous  lays 
and  legends  of  the  various  Celtic  families,  as  it  does  amor>g 
the  German  ones.  The  tyranny  of  the  English  conquer 
ors,  unparalleled  in  history,  maintained  for  centuries  by  a 
heartless,  despotic  misrule,  plunged  the  various  populations 
and  tribes  of  Ireland  into  a  mire  of  social  degradation. 
Generations  after  generations  grow  therein.  Violence  and 
hatred,  disorder  and  lawlessness  have  formed  the  only  so 
cial  links  and  currents,  surrounding  and  inspiring  the 
Irishman  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave — becoming  thus  in 
born  to  the  people,  they  compose  the  salient  features  of 
the  so-called  Irish  nationality.  The  feeblest  sprouts  of 
orderly  self-consciousness  seem  to  have  been  crushed  out 
for  a  long  time,  if  not  for  ever ;  and  social  and  political 
psychology  often  doubt  the  possibility  of  their  recovery. 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  263 

No  less  destructive  to  the  character  and  the  faculties  of 
the  victimized  Irish  people  at  large,  has  been  the  influence  of 
Romanism.  The  experience  of  ages,  the  lessons  from  history 
establish  beyond  dispute  how  Romanism,  and  above  all  since 
the  reformation,  -when  Jesuitism  became  its  soul  and  its 
moulder,  how  Romanism  has  fatally  affected  and  degraded 
the  nations  submitted  to  its  sway.  It  is  its  character 
and  nature  to  prevent  the  enlightenment  of  man  in  gen 
eral,  but  above  all  to  intercept  the  rays  of  light,  and  turn 
them  from  the  masses.  Its  enmity  to  reason  is  indisputa 
ble  and  recorded  by  every  country,  on  every  page  of  the 
annals  of  human  progress  and  development.  In  order  to 
exist,  to  prevail  and  domineer,  Romanism  fosters  and  en 
tertains  the  darkest  and  most  degrading  superstitions ; 
combats  with  all  the  weapons  of  passion  and  prejudice : 
self-consciousness,  self-judgment,  thought  and  mental 
emancipation,  those  primordial  conditions  of  social  and 
political  liberty.  If  at  times  Romanism  has  seemed  to 
support  free,  and  even  republican  or  democratic  institu 
tions,  it  is  only  when  by  their  help  it  could  rule  supreme 
over  society,  and  retain  the  people  in  mental  stupor.  On 
such  conditions,  Romanism  once  wandered  hand  in  hand 
with  some  Italian  republics,  and  in  our  days  is  an  intimate 
ally  of  several  Swiss  cantons.  But  mental  liberty  and 
Romanism  cannot  live  well  together.  So  teaches  its  own 
history  and  that  of  human  culture.  Therein  Romanism 
stands  reeking  with  the  gore  of  martyrs.  It  has  cheer 
fully  consecrated  all  the  murders  and  crimes  perpetrated 
against  those  who  have  tried  to  emancipate  man,  who  have 
denounced  the  allegiance  to  religious  or  civil  tyranny. 
Never  in  any  land  has  Romanism  recognized  the  rights  of 
a  citizen,  the  rights  of  society,  as  at  least  equal  to  those 
of  the  Church,  but  has  always  contrived  and  still  contrives 
to  trample  on,  to  subdue,  to  make  them  wholly  subser- 


264  AMEEICA   AND   EUROPE. 

vient.  When  it  could  do  it  safely,  Romanism  has  nevor 
hesitated  even  to  destroy  all  other  rights,  for  the  sake  of 
its  own  supremacy.  The  Romish  surplice  is  not  staim  d 
but  dipped  and  kept  in  blood.  Not  in  any  single  instance 
has  Romanism  disapproved  the  atrocities  of  the  civil  pow 
er,  when  perpetrated  against  liberty.  And  hence  for  the 
sake  of  civil  and  religious  oppression  Rome,  the  hierarchy, 
the  popes,  bestowed  their  blessings  on  the  exterminate  .*s 
of  the  Albigenses ;  they  kindled  the  fires  of  the  inqn  i- 
sition ;  they  blessed  the  murders  of  St.  Bartholomew's 
night,  those  committed  in  the  Netherlands,  in  German  vr, 
in  England,  in  one  word,  in  every  nation  of  Europe,  n 
every  region  of  the  globe.  Romanism,  when  its  conserva 
tion  is  at  stake,  is  meek  only  when  it  is  wholly  unable  1o 
shed  blood  or  persecute.  It  is  unchangeable,  it  cannot 
be  modified  and  never  was  so%in  reality.  As  it  has  acted 
once,  so  it  will  and  must  acf  for  ever  •  not  the  will  bi.t 
the  power  is  wanting  now.  Its  cardinal  rule  is  to  save 
the  souls  in  its  own  manner,  and  according  to  its  peculiar 
comprehension,  and  for  this  salvation  to  tread  down,  to 
destroy  family,  society,  freedom,  consciousness  in  single 
individuals  as  well  as  in  whole  nations. 

The  Irish  are  the  fullest  and  ripest  productions  of  Ro 
manism,  combined  and  harmonizing  with  their  inborn  char 
acteristics.  No  other  nation  on  the  earth,  neither  the  Ital 
ians  nor  Spaniards  equal  the  Irish  in  this  respect.  Roman 
ism  in  Ireland  took  under  its  wing  the  nationality  ; — it  ap 
propriated  to  herself  all  the  powers  of  mind  and  soul,  what 
ever  may  have  been  possessed  by  the  Irish  tribes,  and  for 
centuries  ruled  them  with  limitless  power  and  influence. 
The  priestly  training  to  which  this  people  was  submitted 
for  generation  after  generation,  and  to  which  alone  it  was 
and  is  now  tractable,  extinguished  every  aspiration  after 
culture,  brought  it  to  hate  and  repudiate  even  the  slight- 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  265 

est  intercourse  with  the  spirit  of  ages  moving  around 
them.  The  priests  nursed  bravely  the  sloth  natural  to  a 
degraded  people.  There  is  little  if  any  difference  in  the 
mental  faculties  and  development  between  the  Irish,  as 
described  by  historians  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth,  sev 
enteenth,  eighteenth  centuries,  and  those  whom  the  last 
quarter  of  a  century  has  poured  on  the  American  shores. 
In  this  element  Romanism  here  finds  its  cardinal  support, 
and  through  the  Irish  it  eats  its  way  into  the  heart  of  the 
American  social  and  political  institutions. 

Wherever  Romanism  gets  a  foothold,  its  tendencies 
and  workings  have  been  and  are  always  identical.  It  is 
to  envelope  society  in  its  anaconda-like  folds,  to  subdue,  to 
govern  it  surreptitiously,  if  it  cannot  do  it  openly.  To 
wards  this  aim  it  directs  all  its  efforts,  uses  all  influences, 
slow  but  unrelenting  as  time  in  its  destructive  action.  Ro 
manism  in  America  remains  true  to  its  nature ;  it  is  not 
different  here  from  what  it  was  always  and  every  where. 
Romanism  alone,  of  all  European  importations  on  the 
American  continent,  becomes  not  ennobled,  ameliorated 
by  transplantation.  True  it  is,  that  the  priesthood  shows 
externally  various  signs  of  devotion  to  freedom,  and  to  in 
stitutions  existing  here ;  but  if  such  demonstrations  may 
be  sincere  with  some  few,  the  whole  hierarchy  recurs  to 
them  as  far  as  it  is  needed  to  influence  and  to  delude  pub 
lic  opinion,  to  seize  and  secure  domination  over  a  credu 
lous  and  submissive  flock.  How  is  it  possible  to  believe 
Romanism  sincere  in  the  love  of  freedom,  self-conscious 
ness,  and  independent  judgment,  all  of  which,  united  or 
separated,  work  the  destruction  of  Romanism.  It  yields 
now  to  circumstances,  watches  them,  and  turns  them  to 
account  with  unflinching  consistency.  Romanism  flirted 
with  the  French  Republic  in  1848,  but  it  secured  the 
election  of  Louis  Napoleon ;  applauded,  consecrated  the 
12 


266  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

deed  of  the  2d  December,  and  saluted  in  pontificalibus  the 
Empire.  When  it  cannot  rule  alone,  Romanism  sides  si- 
ways  with  despots  and  absolutists. 

The  pious  tendency  of  Romanism,  as  avowed  by  its 
leaders  and  chiefs,  is  to  Romanize  the  population  of  Amer 
ica;  or,  in  other  words,  to  subvert  the  corner-stones  of 
the  institutions,  poison  the  life,  and  destroy  the  destinias 
of  America;  in  one  word,  to  Irishize  the  Republic.  The 
populations  once  become  devotedly  Romanist,  the  spiritual 
supremacy  of  the  hierarchy  and  of  its  head,  the  pope,  will 
become  a  fact  firmly  fixed  in  their  creed,  in  their  con 
sciences.  The  philosophers  and  casuists  of  that  sect  ha  /e 
clearly  and  repeatedly  established  in  theory,  and  as  repet  t- 
edly  the  popes  have  attempted  to  establish  it  as  a  fact, 
that  as  matter  is  submitted  to  the  spirit,  and  the  body  to  t  ic 
soul,  so  temporalities  are  inferior  to  spiritualities.  A 
power  supreme,  therefore,  in  the  spiritual  order,  ipso facto 
is  supreme  in  temporal  or  worldly  affairs ;  that  is,  in  all 
matters  concerning  society,  its  government,  its  institutions. 
This  deduction,  logical  in  itself,  is  the  credo  of  Romanism, 
a  credo  paramount  to  all  the  other  confessions ;  for  it  Ro 
manism  works,  and  to  its  realization  it  directs  all  its  forces ; 
this  is  its  beginning  and  the  end  of  its  spiritual  and  tem 
poral  life  and  activity. 

But  self-government,  reason,  must  then  disappear  be 
fore  the  advent  of  Romish  theocracy.  In  Europe,  for 
centuries  it  has  been  checked  by  the  equally  ambitious  and 
grasping  royalty ;  but  here  it  avails  itself  of  the  principles 
of  freedom,  of  the  non-interference  of  government  in  reli 
gious  matters,  of  the  latitude  thus  offered  to  its  dark  and 
tortuous  under-dealings.  It  hopes  and  expects  a  final  vic 
tory.  It  is  opposed  here  by  the  force  of  light  and  reason, 
by  that  of  the  beneficial  example  of  advanced  culture  and 
emancipation.  But  powerful  as  are  these  divine  agencies, 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  267 

no  less  powerful  are  those  of  the  genius  of  evil,  acting  on 
deeply  rooted  prejudices,  on  bigotry,  on  mental  obtuseness 
and  degradation.  The  strife  between  the  good  and  the 
evil  principle  is  not  new.  It  has  been  carried  on  under 
various  manifestations,  from  the  earliest  existence  of  the 
human  race.  The  force  of  truth — it  is  a  gloomy  avowal — 
often  succumbs  under  the  pressure  of  falsehood ; — other 
wise  progress  would  not  be  so  difficult  and  slow.  Un 
doubtedly  Romanism  cherishes  the  hope,  by  identifying  it 
self  with  republican  self-governing  institutions,  and  by  di 
recting  them  cunningly,  to  reconquer  on  the  American 
soil  what  it  has  successively  lost  in  Europe ;  although  it 
begins  slowly  to  recover  there  from  some  stunning  blows, 
and  again  restores  intolerance,  inquisition,  persecutions. 
These  dreams  of  supremacy  once  realized,  Romanism  be 
lieves  it  to  be  as  easy  a  task  to  erect  scaffolds,  to  kindle 
pyres  for  religious  and  political  heretics,  or  throw  them 
into  dungeons  in  the  name  and  with  the  co-operation  of  a 
Romanized,  Irishized,  and  fanaticised  people,  as  to  do  this 
in  the  name  of  a  pope,  a  king,  or  an  emperor.  The  spirit 
of  intolerance  moves  uninterruptedly  over  Romanism  its 
heavy  and  crushing  wings. 

Doubtless  all  these  aims,  schemes,  and  efforts,  of  what 
ever  nature  and  character,  are  repulsive  to  the  genuine 
American  mind,  to  the  heart  and  the  understanding  of 
populations  nursed  and  bred  by  reason,  freedom,  and  self- 
consciousness.  Romanism  therefore  takes  care  to  main 
tain  the  compactness  of  the  Irishry,  to  surround  it  with 
the  opaque  wall  of  prejudices,  to  preserve  its  power  over 
them  ;  in  one  word,  to  have  in  hand  a  bigoted  and  devoted 
mass  in  the  midst  of  the  American  population.  Roman 
ism  watches  over  the  Irish  with  the  utmost  care,  and  con 
tinues  the  work  of  mental  enslavement.  The  hatred  stim 
ulated  in  Ireland  against  the  English  oppressor,  is  turned 


268  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

and  entertained  here  by  the  priesthood  against  the  light 
of  reason  and  self-judgment.  Romanism  steps  between 
its  Irish  tools  and  the  regenerating  action  of  the  social  in 
stitutions  here.  Romanism  is  the  conductor  through 
which  they  penetrate  to  the  Irish,  and  they  are  thus  ad 
ministered  in  a  wholly  perverted  and  adulterated  for  n. 
These  immigrants,  coming  to  a  social  state  based  on  cul 
ture  and  on  emancipation  of  mind,  remain  nevertheless  in 
the  most  absolute  unconsciousness  and  dependency.  Th<;ir 
political  convictions  are  administered  to  them  ready  made, 
as  faith  and  communion.  Whatever  might  have  been  Ids 
original  unfitness  to  comprehend  the  order  into  which  lie 
is  transplanted,  it  might  be  hoped  that  the  Irishman,  sur 
rounded  by  sound  sense  on  all  sides,  would  finally  be 
enabled  to  comprehend  and  appreciate  liberty,  the  condi 
tions  of  self-government,  the  necessity  of  self-improvement. 
But  all  this  reaches  him  through  the  priestly  exegesis, 
and  as  much  of  it  as  is  judged  suitable  by  the  exegete. 
He  spares  no  sacrifice  to  raise  and  maintain  between  I  is 
tool  and  the  American  heretic,  a  line  of  hateful  demarcation. 
For  this,  Romanism  insists  clamorously  on  the  separation 
of  public  schools,  that  its  pupils  might  not  be  contaminated, 
that  is,  enlightened,  and  thus  the  power  of  Romanism  be 
undermined  and  destroyed.  Even  in  many  European 
states,  such  arrogant  demands  of  the  clergy,  if  made,  are 
not  conceded.  The  education  of  the  people,  one  of  the 
sublimest  results  of  American  social  progress,  as  all  othor 
fruits  of  liberty,  is  to  be  desecrated  by  the  hands  of  Ro 
manism.  These  fruits  are  to  become  a  dispensation,  of 
which  the  priesthood  are  to  be  the  dispensers. 

Socially  and  politically,  the  Irishry  forms  a  state  in 
the  state,  mostly  impermeable  to  higher  and  civilizing  in 
fluences.  It  acts  blindly  under  the  orders  and  under  the 
guidance  of  the  clergy,  without  discernment,  without  appro- 


FOEEIGN    ELEMENTS.  269 

elation,  without  comprehension  of  the  rights  acquired  by 
the  rehabilitation  of  the  dignity  of  man.  The  Irishry  thus  „ 
becomes  a  cudgel  in  the  hands  of  leaders  and  intriguers. 
True  it  is,  that  the  discipline  of  political  parties  often  re 
duces  to  a  nullity  the  will  and  self-choice  of  others,  better 
prepared  for  political  life.  However,  such  a  result  is  pre 
ceded  by  public  discussion,  by  which,  after  all,  self-con 
sciousness  can  be  stirred  up  and  maintain  its  rights.  But 
no  such  influences  act  on  those  guided  by  the  priesthood. 
All  is  mysterious  and  secret.  They  follow  orders  given 
as  a  case  of  conscience,  and  cannot  safely  swerve  therefrom. 
The  Irishman,  on  coming  to  America,  finds  already  a 
bond  in  the  common  language,  this  powerful  agency  of  assim 
ilation.  The  process  of  his  merging  in  the  American  life 
condition,  and  nationality,  is  therefore  immensely  facilitat 
ed,  and  his  human  and  political  education  ought  to  be  easily 
accomplished.  He  ought  to  plunge  into  the  new  and  pure 
current,  wash  away,  dissolve,  his  inborn  crudity  and  shift- 
lessne.ss,  and  become  born  anew.  This  however  is  pre 
vented,  palsied  by  the  religious  prejudices  which  are  kept 
alive  by  Romanism.  On  the  other  side,  a  no  less  mis 
chievous  action  is  exercised  on  the  mass  of  the  Irishry, 
by  those  of  its  representative  men  who  act  and  write,  ap 
parently,  independent  of  Romanism.  Those  Shans  prey 
on  the  excited  feelings,  on  the  recollections  of  sufferings 
and  outrages,  wherein  consists  the  Irish  nationality.  As 
if  such  or  any  other  nationality  could  be  transplanted  into 
new  and  different  conditions,  as  if  it  ought  to  be  nursed, 
cherished,  and  sustained.  The  Irish,  like  all  other  immi 
grants,  ought  to  become  Americans  ;  that  is,  enter  a  higher 
social  state  than  that  abandoned  in  the  old  world,  adapt 
themselves  to  it,  by  divorcing  from  the  past,  its  interests, 
hatreds,  or  even  dear  delusions.  But  the  mass  of  the 
Irish  is  maintained  by  its  priesthoods,  as  by  its  Shans,  in 


270  \MERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

a  constant  state  of  irritation.  For  them  their  new  coun 
try  is  always  in  the  second  line  behind  the  reminiscences 
of  the  Green  Island.  It  would  seem  that,  without  being 
henceforth  truly  Irishmen,  they  unwillingly  become  Amer 
icans.  The  exchange  is,  however,  mostly  advantageous  to 
the  new-coiner.  The  mass  of  the  Irishry  bestow  uj  on 
the  society  which  receives  them  open-handed,  drunkenness 
and  ruffianism.  The  records  of  criminal  cases,  of  assassina 
tions,  as  well  as  of  all  kinds  of  offences,  show  that  the  gre  it- 
cst  number  in  any  American  community  is  perpetrated  by 
the  Irish.  The  Irish  prefer  in  general  to  hang  around  cities, 
to  depend  upon' daily  accidental  earnings,  rather  than  to 
scatter  over  the  country,  and  turn  to  agriculture.  In  this 
way,  they  are  individually  more  easily  controlled  by  l.o- 
manism.  In  cities  they  form  massy  receptacles  of  igno 
rance  and  crime,  which  oveishadow  better  humane  qurli- 
ties.  Priestly  rule  and  English  oppression,  both  have  tlius 
shaped  out  the  Irish  character.  Such  arc  now  its  promi 
nent  features.  Those  brought  into  a  daily  and  manifold  cc  n- 
tact  with  the  Hibernians,  and  with  the  colored  population, 
almost  unanimously  give  the  palm  for  intelligence,  honesty, 
cleanliness,  aptitude  to  work,  and  good-breeding,  to  tlie 
colored  people.  And  it  ought  to  be  considered,  that  the 
African  ancestry  of  the  American  colored  population  was 
brought  from  the  Western  part  of  Africa,  inhabited  by 
tribes  considered  as  the  inferior  strata  in  the  black  race. 

Such  is  the  substance  of  one  of  the  foreign  elements 
which  exercise  already  a  powerful  influence  on  the  opera 
tion  of  political  institutions.  It  bands  votes  together,  ai;d 
throws  them  preponderatingly  into  one  scale,  thus  falsify 
ing  the  genuine  manifestation  of  the  sense  of  the  really 
enlightened  population.  In  the  recent  election  of  Presi 
dent,  the  Irishry,  its  priests  and  Shans,  sided  with  the 
propagators  and  apostles  of  slavery.  As  if  they  wished  to 


FOREIGN     ELEMENTS.  271 

show  their  regret  in  being  themselves  disenthralled.  Dis 
secting  the  vote  thrown  for  the  two  candidates  throughout 
the  whole  Union,  it  will  be  found,  that  the  really  numerical 
majority  of  civilized,  moral,  and  enlightened  Americans, 
was  on  the  side  of  freedom.  Where  the  voice  of  reason 
reached  the  masses,  the  people  answered  to  the  calL  The 
Irishry,  in  immense  throngs,  threw  its  weight  on  the  other 
side.  It  swelled  the  numbers,  and  constituted  the  nia- 
jority.  With  it  coalesced  what  in  sociologicajl  and  philo 
sophical  appreciation  forms  the  oifal  of  cultivated  societies ; 
as  broken  ambitions,  financial  oppressors  and  suckers  of 
the  people,  monopolizing  bankers,  haters  of  liberty,  jobbers 
in  money  or  in  convictions,  pusillanimous  pessimists,  and, 
in  one  word,  all  those  who,  in  all  political  conditions,  in  all 
states  of  society,  in  all  epochs  and  governmental  forms, 
constitute  the  most  corrupt  portion — constitute  the  bars 
and  impediments  to  progress,  who  lower  the  moral  and  in 
tellectual  tone  of  large  or  smalL  communities,  whether  re 
publics  or  monarchies,  aristocracies  or  democracies. 

Time,  by  its  slow  working,  the  irresistible  action  of 
social  light  and  truth,  may  dissolve  the  coarse  crust,  stir 
up  and  evoke  to  germination  the  Irish  mind,  which  is  now, 
for  all  nobler  and  civilizing  influences,  in  a  state  of  torpor. 
But  this  process  of  dissolution,  purification,  and  regenera 
tion,  is  counteracted  by  a  vigilant  opponent,  nestled  in  the 
interior,  and  watching  over  all  the  issues  and  communica 
tions.  As  in  the  junction  of  two  rivers,  the  waters  of  the 
one  often  preserve  for  a  long  space  the  turbid  color  of  the 
muddy  soils  through  which  they  have  passed,  so  the  Irish 
current  discharging  itself  into  America,  shall  long  be  dis 
cernible  by  its  impure  exhalations.  Nothing  in  the  whole 
creation  is  more  antagonistic,  than  Romanism  and  the  lu 
minous  and  sacred  principles  which  constitute  exclusively 
the  fulness  of  the  social  life  of  America.  Even  liberty,  all- 


272  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

healing  and  all-reinvigorating  as  she  is,  cannot  regenera;e 
at  once ;  she  recoils  at  first,  impotent,  from  these  lloman  )- 
Hibernian  minds.  They  are  even  still  more  blinded  by 
her  glare.  So  the  full  blaze  of  light,  poured  suddenly, 
destroys  the  visual  organs  of  one  from  whom  the  scalos 
have  been  torn  away,  so  the  best  and  most  nutritious  foe  d 
must  be  scantily  administered  after  protracted  starvation. 

The  immigrants  to  America  are  received  without  ary 
restriction,  with  the  most  unparalleled  social,  political 
generosity.  The  whole  sanctuary  of  institutions  is  thro^  n 
open,  is  accessible  to  them.  The  liberty  of  action,  enjoy 
ed  without  limit?  by  the  American,  is  conferred  on  tl  e 
new-comer.  His  mental  and  social  sores  and  ulcers  are 
cared  for,  and  this  alike  by  the  political  institutions,  and 
by  private  sacrifices.  The  humane  establishments,  publ  c 
charities  and  private  benevolence  here  surpass  most  of  tl  e 
like  institutions  in  EuropeT  Those  entertained  by  the 
States  or  by  the  communes  are  the  result  of  the  popular* 
will,  the  people  furnish  the  means  for  their  support;  and 
by  their  side  there  exist  innumerable  charitable  establish 
ments,  results  of  private  munificence,  care  and  devotion. 
This  constitutes  one  of  the  loftiest  and  warmest  features 
of  American  society.  These  charities  grow  out  of  inward 
generous  impulses.  All  the  social  shadowings  participate 
therein,  the  men  furnish  money  and  their  time,  the  women 
of  the  wealthier  classes  their  care,  tutorship  and  instruc 
tion,  to  the  poor.  The  large  cities,  where  pauperism  and 
destitution  are  the  most  prevalent,  go  foremost  with  their 
devotion  and  example.  All  these  establishments  are  prin 
cipally  beneficial  to  the  foreign-born  population,  grown  up  as 
well  as  children,  more  in  proportion  than  to  those  born  on 
the  American  soil. 

Schools  for  tuition,  and  finally  participation  in  politi 
cal  life,  that  is  in  the  highest  and  most  free  development 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  273 

and  exercise  of  individuality,  with  the  above  named  hu 
mane  and  charitable  establishments,  compose  the  boons 
that  are  proffered  bt  Americans  to  the  mass  of  foreign 
population  that  pours  in  among  them.  It  was  to  have  been 
expected  that  those  new-comers  would  heartily  accept  the 
gifts,  and  apply  themselves  diligently  to  merge  and  fuse 
with  the  great  national  current.  But  the  reverse  takes 
place.  They  separate,  and  do  their  utmost  to  preserve 
and  increase  this  separation.  They  enter  into  political 
activity,  not  as  Americans,  but  under  the  name  and  watch 
word  of  distinct  nationalities,  that  are  strange  to  the  soil. 
This  arrogant  and  offensive  putting  forth,  provoked  nat 
urally  a  reaction  in  the  feelings  of  the  people.  If  this 
movement  called  the  Know-Nothing  or  American  party, 
with  the  aim  of  limiting  the  political  rights  of  the  new 
citizens,  is  considered  as  a  monstrous  excrescence  in  the 
free  institutions ;  in  justice  it  must  be  said,  that  it  results 
from  the  action  from  without,  which,  disordering  the 
normal  operation,  evoked  this  violent  erruption.  The 
movement  was  originated  not  by  theorists  and  speculators, 
but  among  the  people ;  it  is  the  expression  of  aversion  to 
the  doings  of  the  banded  nationalities  and  to  religious  in 
tolerance,  as  well  as  of  anxiety.  The  popular  feeling  was 
wounded.  As  the  provocations  from  Romanism  were 
more  direct  and  immediate,  the  counteraction  was  origi 
nally  directed  towards  that.  Then  it  increased  in  its 
proportions  and  overhauled  the  whole  foreign  element, 
menacing  it  in  the  enjoyment  of  political  rights.  In 
triguers,  schemers,  seizing  upon  this  movement,  envenomed 
and  perverted  it ;  but  its  logic  remains  intrinsically  just. 
It  is  a  violent  attempt,  perhaps,  but  nevertheless  a  saluta 
ry  one,  to  force  the  immigrants  to  merge  and  to  become  re 
cast  in  the  nationality  which  is  readily  and  heartily  opened 
to  them,  to  put  an  end  to  the  influence  over  them  of  Ko- 
12* 


274:  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

manism,  and  of  the  spirit  of  petty,  puny  national  seclu 
sions.  It  is  an  attempt  to  prevent  the  American  soil  from 
being  cut  up  and  checkered  according  to  idioms,  consan 
guinities  and  prejudices,  as  is  the  case  for  instance  in  Hun 
gary  ;  it  is  an  attempt  to  destroy  one  of  the  most  dangei- 
ous  barriers  to  the  general  harmonious  development  and 
onward  movement  of  the  country.  ' 

The  originators  of  American  independence  threw  th ) 
country  open  to  all  comers,  without  regard  to  the  ori 
gin  of  race,  religion,  or  any  such  distinctions.  They  did 
not  judge  it  necessary  to  throw  impediments  in  the  path 
of  the  immigrants.  They  themselves  were  not  imbued 
with  any  prejudices  of  race  or  religion.  Even  Anglo-Sax- 
onism  was  unknown  to  them;  their  large  minds  were  not 
accessible  to  narrow  limitations.  And  finally,  they  saw 
the  necessity  of  increasing  the  population,  as  the  only  wav 
to  subdue  the  wilderness  ofHhe  country.  Man  prospers 
and  increases  in  numbers  only  in  culture  and  civilization : 
animals,  on  the  contrary,  propagate  and  thrive  in  the  sav 
age  wilderness.  America  wanted  culture,  wanted  hands. 
Further,  these  immortal  founders  had  one  paramount 
creed — this  was  freedom  and  equality.  They  enthusiasti 
cally  believed  in  the  miraculous  power  of  principles,  whosu 
electric  touch  was  at  once  to  transform  and  assimilate  the 
immigrants.  They  did  not  foresee  that  immigrations  might 
acquire  such  gigantic  proportions,  that  the  unchecked  cur 
rent  might  carry  and  deposit  on  the  American  shores 
masses,  overtaxing  the  normal  and  regular  powers  of  ab 
sorption  by  reason  and  light.  They  could  not  foresee  that 
Romanism  would  ever  try  to  raise  menacingly  its  head,  or 
what  is  still  worse,  to  set  busily  at  work  to  palsy  and  an 
nul  the  beneficial  action  of  American  principles.  They 
could  still  less  foresee  that  the  new-comers  would  attempt 
to  form  separate  bodies  and  corporations — to  form  states  in 


FOREIGN    ELEMENTS.  275 

the  great  State  under  the  plea  of  religions  and  nationali 
ties.  They  could  not  foresee  that  the  school-house,  con 
sidered  by  them  as  the  preeminent  agency  of  fusion,  and  of 
moral  improvement,  would  be  avoided,  prohibited  on  ac 
count  of  dogmatic  squabbles,  or  that  the  regular  movement 
of  institutions  should  become  distorted  by  the  deadly  might 
of  ignorance  thrown  therein  by  foreign-born  populations. 

The  recent  American  movement,  however  narrow  and 
distorted  it  may  be  deemed ;  when  judged  impartially,  is 
less  narrow  and  abnormal  than  the  wilful  seclusion  and 
formation  in  separate  bodies  of  the  Ilomano-IIiberuians, 
or  of  the  German  nationalities  or  Landsmannschaften, 
amidst  a  powerful,  flourishing,  civilized  and  well-organized 
nation.  This  American  movement  is  likewise  more  logi 
cal  and  less  narrow-minded  than  that  called  Anglo-Saxon, 
based  upon  imaginary  physiological,  innate  predisposi 
tions  and  distinctions,  unsustained  either  by  science  or 
history.  The  former  is  a  child  of  events  and  conjunc 
tures.  The  Americans  recognize,  generally,  that  all  races 
are  adapted  to  liberty,  but  that  they  ought  to  pass  through 
a  preparatory  apprenticeship,  if  they  are  not  born  on  the 
American  soil,  that  is,  if  they  have  not  been  nursed  from 
the  cradle  by  American  principles,  have  not  breathed  the 
bracing  air  pregnant  with  them,  nor  been  trained  in  liber 
ty  and  self-government  by  daily  intercourse  and  action. 
Anglo-Saxonism  necessarily  annuls  the  influence  of  educa 
tion,  example,  piinciples,  all  of  which  are  powerless  to 
create  the  cranial  bump  in  which  is  located  the  faculty  for 
freedom  and  democracy.  Whatever  may  be  the  ulterior 
results  of  the  American  movement,  it  has  successfully  pre 
vented  the  separation  of  common  public  schools  according 
to  confessions,  as  was  claimed  by  Romanism.  Thus  they 
have  rendered  a  signal  service  to  future  generations,  to 
the  cause  of  freedom  and  reason,  to  the  highest  interests 


276  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

of  the  commonwealth,  securing  at  least  a  part  of  the 
youthful  mind  from  being  delivered  to  the  poisonous  ac 
tion  of  separatism.  At  the  present  moment,  Romanism  b  ? 
its  assumption  and  arrogance  disturbs  the  harmony  o  * 
several  European  countries,  even  absolutely  Catholic  one,'. 
Wherever  it  can  do  so,  Romanism  attempts  to  get  hold  o:? 
public  education.  Belgium  is  at  present  agitated  violently 
by  the  struggle  between  the  encroaching  Romanism  and 
the  spirit  of  liberty  of  instruction.  Austria  has  delivered 
herself,  hands  and  feet  tied,  to  education  by  Romanisn  . 
Darkness  is  there  as  triumphant  as  it  was  before  the  re 
forms  introduced  .by  Joseph  II.  Baden,  Switzerland,  are 
agitated  violently  by  the  aggressive  spirit  of  the  Romai  - 
ist  hierarchy,  which  tries  likewise  to  create  agitation  in  the 
Prussian  provinces  peopled  by  Catholics,  as  well  as  those 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine  and  in  the  dukedom  of  Poser. 
In  both  these  regions  principally  the  nobility  sustain  Ro 
manism  in  the  attempt  to  seize  the  public  education.  For 
securing  his  presidential  election  in  1849,  and  for  siding 
with  him  after  the  destruction  of  liberty  in  the  night  of 
the  2d  December,  Louis  Napoleon  remunerated  Romanism 
by  giving  to  it  a  preponderating  influence  over  the  public 
instruction,  by  allowing  the  establishment  of  schools  whol 
ly  in  the  hands  of  priests  and  Jesuits.  This  was  granted 
under  the  pretence  of  liberty  of  education  invoked  by  Ro 
manism.  Now  Louis  Napoleon  begins  to  be  aware  of  the 
danger  in  having  conceded  so  much,  and  thrown  into  the 
hands  of  the  priests  the  education  of  the  people. 

During  fourteen  centuries,  Romanism  almost  exclu 
sively,  and  since  the  Reformation,  the  other  creeds  and 
denominations  have  shared  with  Romanism  the  supreme 
direction  of  the  Christian  public  education.  If  the  past 
generations,  or  the  present  one  are  degraded,  as  the  Ro 
man  priesthood,  and  the  pious  ministry  of  some  other  con- 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  277 

fessions  assert,  the  fault  is  with  the  tutors.  It  proves  that 
the  confidence  of  the  human  race  in  the  clergy  of  all 
faiths,  as  ministers  of  education,  has  not  been  justified,  and 
that  education  is  to  be  wholly  transferred  into  other  hands, 
that  another  spirit  is  to  preside  over  it.  This  change  the 
American  people — religious  as  it  is — have  alone  understood 
how  to  carry  out.  The  clergy  has  not  power  to  interfere 
with  the  public  common  schools. 

The  restrictions  on  the  time  in  which  full  citizenship 
is  to  be  acquired,  and  with  it  the  faculty  of  exercising  po 
litical  rights,  and  of  entering  the  public  service,  as  claimed 
by  the  Americans,  are  already  contained  in  the  Constitu 
tion.  According  to  it,  naturalization  can  be  acquired 
only  after  a  certain  number  (5)  of  years  of  sojourn  and  ap 
prenticeship.  The  question  started  now  relates  to  an  ex 
tension  of  the  term.  The  greater  or  restricted  facility 
for  foreigners  to  become  citizens  or  subjects,  and  public 
servants,  of  other  states,  vary  in  Europe  mostly  according 
to  the  nature  and  the  form  of  governments.  In  the  abso 
lutist  monarchies  the  facility  is  generally  the  greatest. 
The  will  of  the  sovereign  admits  at  once  a  foreigner  into 
the  public  service,  and  thus  incorporates  him  among  his 
subjects,  his  nation.  Of  old  the  admission  by  sovereigns 
of  foreigners  to  elevated  public  and  military  offices  was  a 
usual  and  common  occurrence.  Many  such  foreign  seek 
ers  of  fortune  served  several  courts,  several  governments 
in  succession,  and  thus  enjoyed  privileges,  rights  and  pre 
rogatives,  equal  to  those  of  all  other  subjects.  It  is  the 
liberal  governments  that  put  various  restrictions  on  the 
acquisition  of  citizenship,  or  on  the  ability  to  enter  the 
public  service.  Such  legal  restrictions  exist  in  England ; 
they  were  introduced  in  France  after  the  great  revolution. 
In  Switzerland  every  legally  and  politically  organized 
commune  can  confer  the  right  of  citizenship,  admitting 


278  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

any  one  as  its  member.  The  same  exists  partially  in 
Prussia,  but  the  admission  or  naturalization  thus  acquired 
must  be  confirmed  by  government,  besides  the  sovereign 
having  an  unlimited  right  to  naturalize  or  admit  into  tl  e 
public  service. 

The  same  policy  prevailed  in  the  ancient  world.  ]'t 
was  easier  to  become  a  Persian  or  Macedonian  subject, 
with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  official  servitude,  than 
to  become  a  citizen  of  Athens,  Thebes,  Sparta,  or  of  any 
free  city  of  Greece.  Roman  citizenship,  originally  was  a 
boon  acquired  with  difficulty ;  and  in  the  nicdiseval  fix  e 
cities  and  republics,  naturalization,  that  is  the  admission 
to  the  enjoyment  of  the  full  rights,  privileges  and  immu 
nities  of  liberty,  was  less  easily  acquired  than  from  sove 
reigns.  'Generally,  free  communities  seem  to  have  been 
more  jealous  in  this  respect,  and  to  have  maintained  a  de 
fensive  position  against  foreign-born  comers. 

Next  to  Ireland,  Germany  contributes  most  considera 
bly  to  populate  America.  The  Romanist  part  of  this 
German  influx,  albeit  in  many  respects,  such  as  intelli 
gence,  skill,  orderly  habits,  laboriousness,  aptness  to  tu 
ition,  is  superior  to  the  bulk  of  the  Irishry ;  and  equals  it, 
with  few  exceptions,  in  bigotry,  credulity,  and  submission 
to  the  priesthood.  Still  the  majority  of  German  settlers 
are  akin  to  the  natives  in  religious  convictions.  Some  of 
them  practically,  others  in  general  outlines  and  concep 
tions,  are  already  familiar  with  the  partial  rudiments  of 
social  liberty.  Numbers  likewise  have  been  through  a 
mental  training,  and  their  intelligence  variously  schooled, 
already  in  process  of  germination  at  home.  The  Germans 
bring  into  America  not  only  rough  labor,  as  do  the  Irish, 
but  are  skilful  working-men,  operatives,  artisans  and 
artists,  intelligent  and  laborious  agriculturists.  As  such 
they  contribute  eminently  to  break  up  and  put  into  culture 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  279 

the  virgin  soil ;  they  contribute  in  various  ways  to  the 
rapid  increase  of  American  prosperity.  The  internal 
trade  as  well  as  the  foreign  importing  and  exporting  com 
merce,  is  increased  by  German  capital,  laboriousness,  ac 
tivity  and  steadiness.  Most  of  the  maritime  and  commer 
cial  cities  of  America  count  numbers  of  Germans  among 
their  principal  trading  houses.  In  one  word,  in  every 
practical  pursuit  the  assiduous  German  industry  is  easily 
to  be  distinguished. 

Moreover,  for  the  last  ten  years,  the  German  immi 
gration  is,  on  the  average,  superior  in  mental  and  material 
quality  to  its  predecessors.  Formerly  the  great  throng 
of  immigrants  consisted  principally  of  the  most  mentally 
and  physically  impoverished  portion  of  the  population  in 
Germany.  The  better  ones  among  them,  the  apparently 
improved,  were  really  as  coarse  as  the  others,  and  gener 
ally  unfit  to  truly  appreciate  the  new  conditions  which 
they  found  here.  For  most  of  them  these  conditions  were 
summed  up  in  one,  paramount  to  all  others :  that  of  making 
money  rapidly  and  by  all  means.  Of  late  years  the  Ger 
man  immigration  has  consisted  of  individuals  often  enjoy 
ing  a  certain  degree  of  prosperity  in  their  humble  spheres 
at  home,  as  farmers,  established  artisans  and  mechanics, 
numbers  of  whom  have  come  here  supplied  with  moneyed 
capital,  and  thus  at  once  in  every  respect  augmenting  the 
general  wealth  of  America.  Political  revolutions,  as  well 
as  a  general  dissatisfaction  with  the  present  state  of  their 
fatherland,  and  the  despondency  which  grows  out  of  it,  has 
forced  many  and  many  to  take  up  the  wanderer's  staff. 
Thus  individuals  and  families  have  turned  their  steps 
towards  this  country,  searching  for  the  amelioration  of 
their  social,  political  and  moral,  more  even  than  that  of 
their  material  condition.  In  this  manner  numerous  high 
ly  educated  and  enlightened  Germans,  thoroughly  familiar 


280  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

with  various  scientific  and  practical  pursuits,  are  scattered 
over  the  whole  free  area  of  the  Union.  These  mental 
forces  and  resources  are  valuable  acquisitions  and  gaiis 
for  America ;  in  the  course  of  time  they  will  fertilize,  fa 
cilitate  and  aliment  the  avidity  inborn  to  the  Americai  s, 
for  enlightenment  and  information. 

If  the  Irish  spade  has  contributed  principally  to  c  it 
canals  and  build  up  railroads,  the  German  plough,  upturn 
ing  prairies,  the  German  laborious  husbandry,  the  Germs m 
diversified  and  improved  industry,  and  finally  the  German 
thorough  and  serious  learning,  and  assiduous  and  studio  is 
habits,  ought  to  -contribute  eminently  to  render  the  im 
proved  means  of  communication  beneficial  and  profitable. 

The  German,  like  every  immigrant  from  the  European 
continent  landing  on  these  shores,  in  the  difference  of  la  n- 
guage  meets  at  once  the  greatest  impediment  to  assimilation. 
To  a  certain  extent,  therefore,  he  is  forcibly  reduced  to  i.n 
almost  exclusive  association  with  his  compatriots.  Ly 
natural  attractions,  the  new-comers  group  together,  ai  d 
the  groups  increase  in  numbers  and 'proportion.  Those 
clubbing  together  form  more  and  more  compact  masses, 
above  all  in  large  cities.  The  German  life,  in  all  classes, 
with  its  easy,  simple,  sociable,  communicative  habits  and 
manners,  has  a  charm  of  everlasting  attraction,  and  the 
charm  becomes  stronger  in  a  foreign  land,  amidst  a  society 
at  the  first  sight  rather  formal,  stiff,  cold,  and  gloomy  in 
all  its  manifestations.  The  mannerism  prevailing  here 
must  appear  somewhat  unsociable  to  the  simple-hearted 
Germans.  It  is  therefore  natural,  that  the  German  popu 
lation  should  cherish  these  domestic  habits,  should  live  in 
them,  and  not  be  eager  to  exchange  them  for  those  which 
prevail  around  them.  Thus  the  gap  of  separation  becomes 
broader  and  broader.  Besides,  the  Germans  bring  with 
them  certain  social  and  religious  notions  and  conceptions, 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  281 

more  elastic  in  some  respects  than  those  which  are  cher 
ished  by  American  minds,  and  are  tenaciously  attached 
to  them.  To  such  belong  toleration,  and  even  indiffer 
ence  in  many  religious  performances,  like  the  observa 
tion  of  the  Sabbath,  which  for  the  Germans,  as  for  all  Eu 
ropeans,  is  a  day  of  sociable  and  mirthful  repose  and  inter 
course. 

However,  the  restraint  imposed  by  the  so-called  Amer 
ican  strict  and  religious  observation  of  the  Sabbath,  may 
be,  in  principle,  wholesome  and  necessary  In  a  society 
organized  on  the  principle  of  self-control  and  of  self-gov 
ernment,  where  preventive  and  repressive  powers,  external 
and  governmental,  do  not  really  exist,  but  ought  to  be 
rooted  in  every  individual,  to  be  alive  in  his  conscience ; 
such  a  society  cannot  too  often  be  admonished,  and  have 
them  refreshed  in  his  mind  and  memory,  of  the  social  and 
moral  purposes  and  duties  of  the  civilized,  onward  striving 
man.  The  Sunday  performances  as  observed  in  America, 
may  be  considered  therefore  as  constituting  a  mental  dis 
cipline,  directed  towards  regulating  and  giving  a  sound 
and  pure  impulse  to  the  actions,  the  convictions  of  the 
community.  Individuals  and  families  absorbed  day  after 
day  by  the  hardening  material  pursuits  of  life,  have  often 
no  time  to  gather  up  their  consciences,  to  embrace  in  a 
general  view  the  multifold  combinations  of  moral  and  civil 
obligations  to1  themselves,  to  their  neighbors,  to  society. 
This  is  generally  done  on  those  religious  Sabbath  gather 
ings  ;  and  their  influence  must,  after  all,  improve  the  peo 
ple,  and  thus  correct  many  shortcomings  proceeding  from 
an  incomplete  or  adulterated  mental  culture. 

In  these  daily  increasing  German  groups  rather  than 
communities,  containing  elements  and  resources  of  internal 
vitality,  arose  the  tendency  to  preserve  their  distinct  na 
tionality,  and  to  assert  it.  Such  a  feeling  in  a  German 


282  AMEEICA  AND   ETJKOPE. 

can  easily  Ibe  understood.  The  German  nationality  ha.<  a 
completeness  in  its  various  domestic,  social,  and  high  men 
tal  developments,  some  of  them  of  warm  coloring,  and  if 
unsurpassed  beauty.  These  hearty  features  in  the  co- 
mestic  life  are  worthy  of  preservation.  They  become  in 
born  to  the  German  character.  Not  less  easily  is  it  to  be 
understood,  that  the  cultivated  Germans  in  America  should 
attempt  not  only  to  preserve,  but  to  nurse  and  entertain 
in  full  blossom,  a  language — this  cardinal  national  distil  c- 
tion — whose  variously  developed  literature,  accumulated 
learning,  and  scientific  treasures,  form  a  fountain  frcm 
which  other  nations  draw  deeply,  and  largely  borrow. 
But  nationality  cannot  prosper  when  transplanted  to  a  new 
soil,  in  a  society  fully  developed,  and  having  its  ovn 
powerful  vitality.  A  German  literature  can  no  mere 
sprout  out  here,  than  can  a^new,  thoroughly  German  i  n- 
tion.  Both  can  thrive  only  in  the  fullest  independence; 
they  require  free  air  and  untrammelled  space.  A  lan 
guage,  to  leaf  forth  and  flourish,  must  expand  in  all  t  ie 
directions  of  activity.  It  must  be  the  language  of  public 
and  political  life,  of  laws,  of  general,  and  not  only  of  do 
mestic  intercourse  ;  it  must  be  the  paramount  instrumental 
ity  of  mental  culture.  All  these  unavoidable  and  life- 
giving  conditions  cannot  be  enjoyed  here  by  the  German 
nationality,  and  by  the  German  language.  The  Germans, 
pressed  by  the  irresistible  current  of  events,  must  adopt 
the  language  of  the  country  to  which  they  come ;  and  to 
participate  in  its  development,  they  must  master  it  men 
tally  and  practically.  They  must  adapt  themselves,  and 
merge  in  the  powerful  social  current,  and  not  square  them 
selves  against  it.  Only  the  Germans  are  the  losers  by 
attempting  to  maintain,  what  in  itself  is  not  maintainable, 
what  does  not  find  any  firm  basis,  what  always  must  float 
on  the  surface,  what  must  dwindle  in  itself;  in  one  word, 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  283 

a  distinct  nationality,  a  distinct  language.  In  such  a  man 
ner  they  may  form  puny  confraternities,  but  never  a  na 
tion.  Thus,  willingly  secluding  themselves,  instead  of 
coalescing  with  the  native-born  population,  the  Germans 
have  not  hitherto  acquired  the  signification  and  influence 
which  their  mental  culture  ought  to  have  secured  to  them, 
in  the  yeasty  undulations  of  American  intellectual  and 
political  life.  In  those  arenas  German  names  are  unknown 
to  American  scientific,  literary,  or  political  records.  Few 
Germans  are  in  a  position  to  participate  in  the  legislative 
bodies,  even  in  States  where  the  German  populations  are 
settled  in  large  numbers ;  not  one  is  heard  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation,  where  Frenchmen  and  Hebrews  raise  their 
voice.  The  Germans  of  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  al 
though  for  a  century  established  there,  have  kept  aloof  from 
the  national  current ;  nevertheless  they  have  not  preserved 
their  own  language,  their  nationality,  but  only  a  coarse 
compound  of  both. 

A  mass  of  German  intellect  thrown  on  the  American 
shores,  during  the  last  ten  years,  craves  for  congenial  ac 
tivity  and  occupation,  and  for  means  to  utilize  the  stores 
of  knowledge  acquired  by  studies  in  their  mother  country, 
and  increased  by  study  and  observation  in  their  adopted 
one.  Numbers  of  those  highly  cultivated  individualities 
look  to  the  press  in  their  native  tongue,  as  the  medium 
of  usefulness  to  themselves  and  to  their  compatriots. 
When  such  a  press  aims  to  explain  and  elucidate  to  those 
unacquainted  with  the  English  idiom,  the  institutions,  the 
character,  the  cardinal  conditions,  of  the  nation  and  society 
in  which  they  are  to  merge  ;  when  this  press  does  it  without 
admixture  of  conceptions,  notions,  and  appreciations,  appli 
cable  to  European  conditions,  almost  virtually  different 
from,  the  American  ones ;  when  it  enlightens  German 
readers  about  the  difference  of  destructive  European,  and 


284:  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

constructive,  genuine  American  democnuv — not  th;it 
sham  and  nominal  one — then  the  German  press  is  of  in 
contestable  utility.  But  the  tenacious  encouragement  1o 
uphold  what  is  called  a  distinct  German  nationality  amidst 
the  mighty  and  rapid  growth  of  the  American  one,  can 
never,  and  in  nowise,  prove  beneficial  to  the  German 
settlers. 

For  all  the  above-mentioned  reasons,  separate  German 
schools  are  not  only  unnecessary,  but  must  prove  injurious 
to  the  rising  generation.  Such  schools  can  never  be  better 
than  the  American  common  public  schools  and  establish 
ments,  and  must'  contribute  to  strengthen  and  enterta  n 
the  separation  •  disabling  rather  than  enabling  the  German 
youth  to  become,  in  the  fullest  comprehension,  citizens  if 
America.  Separate  German  schools,  and  still  worse,  sep  i- 
rate  gymnasia  or  universities,,* would  prove  as  mischievous 
as  those  claimed  by  Romanism  on  religious  grounds. 
Both  the  one  and  the  other  stimulate  estrangement  and 
prejudices,  and  prevent  the  fusion  of  the  various  com 
pounds,  whose  destiny  is  to  melt  and  dissolve  into  one 
great  harmonious  nationality.  Out  of  the  fusion  of  various 
faculties,  passions,  feelings,  intellectual  powers  and  predis 
positions,  characteristics  of  mind  and  of  soul,  as  well  as  of 
the  combination  of  physiological  differences,  completing 
each  other,  must  necessarily  be  obtained  a  richer,  fuller, 
and  higher  social  as  well  as  anthropological  product. 

Of  all  nations,  the  Americans  are  the  least  exclusive, 
and  the  least  antagonistic  or  refractory  to  a  fusion  with 
any  other  race,  tribe,  family,  coming  from  Europe,  settling 
and  taking  roots  among  them.  There  are  comparatively 
more  intermarriages  between  Americans  and  the  Hebrews, 
than  in  any  European  country.  Thus  the  native-bora 
Americans  show  by  long  and  daily  practice,  that  not  the 
law  of  an  exclusive  race,  but  the  combination  almost  of 


FOREIGN   ELEMENTS.  285 

all,  is  to  regulate  the  occupancy,  the  future  development 
of  American  destinies.  The  Americans,  or  if  one  will,  the 
original  English  settlers,  for  centuries  amalgamated  with 
the  Irish  in  large  proportions  ;  the  German  influx,  mixing, 
penetrating,  spreading  among  the  American  population, 
will  enrich  these  populations  with  various  mental  germs, 
add  new  and  warming  rays  to  their  domestic  hearth. 

The  German  mind  is  of  a  depth  and  versatility  unsur 
passed  by  that  of  any  other  nation.  Not  a  branch  of  hu 
man  knowledge  and  science,  wherein  the  Germans  have  not 
been  in  the  first  line.  Kepler  was  the  forerunner  of  New 
ton;  Leibnitz  his  rival.  The  German  erudition  bears  the 
palm  above  all  others.  The  German  metaphysics  alone 
penetrate  unknown  spaces  of  mind,  wherein  the  English 
or  French  mind  shudders  to  follow.  This  does  not  pre 
vent  the  German  mind  from  ranking  foremost  to-day  in 
all  the  branches  of  exact  and  natural  sciences.  Liebig, 
Miiller,  Ludwig,  Gausz,  the  lately  deceased  mathemati 
cian,  Buch,  Alexander  v.  Humboldt,  Moleschott,  and  hosts 
of  others,  lead  the  van  in  astronomy,  chemistry,  physiol 
ogy,  and  all  the  sciences.  The  German  practical  technical 
schools  are  the  model  to  all  others.  German  industry, 
artisans,  mechanicians,  vie  with  those  of  England.  Fur 
ther,  the  German  mind  is  a  mixture  of  deep  earnestness 
hearty  merriment,  and  of  poetical  aspirations;  and  the 
admixture  of  all  these  qualities  will  give  a  higher  tone,  a 
necessary  and  needed  elasticity  to  America.  None  as  the 
Germans  understand  how  to  intertwine  the  domestic,  the 
family  hearth,  the  daily  tasks  of  domestic  occupations, 
with  cheerful,  lovely,  poetical  ingenuity.  This  artless  im 
pulse  is  inborn  to  them ;  is  not  a  painfully  acquired  taste. 
The  German  household  deities  will  dispel  the  artificial 
shams  and  the  stiffness  that  often  darken  the  American 
roof,  cheering  it  by  simplicity.  Tenderness  of  mind 


286  AMERICA   AND  EUKOPE. 

(gemiltUchJceii),  moderation,  frugality,  contempt  for  ei- 
ternal,  empty  show,  are  the  graceful  realities  in  the  cor 
tege  of  German  family  life; — they  smooth  and  facilitate 
sociable  intercourse.  Scrupulous  exactness  in  the  full  1- 
ment  of  the  task,  distinguishes  the  German  mental  or  me 
chanical  laborer  among  those  of  all  other  nations.  These 
and  the  like  qualities,  fused  with  others  that  are  salie  it 
in  the  Americans,  will  enhance  their  value.  That  is  whit 
the  German  brings  and  exchanges  for  being  taught  how  to 
exist  free,  self-conscious,  self-governing,  and  self-improving. 

There  are  to  be  found  among  the  mass  of  the  Germa  is 
coarseness  and  brutality,  drunkenness  and  lawlessness; 
but  neither  in  such  intensity,  nor  in  such  thoroughness,  is 
nmong  the  Hibernians.  And  the  Germans  atone,  by 
good,  for  those  black  stains  which  here  and  there  darkon 
their  character.  %% 

The  Irish  and  the  Germans,  with  the  smaller  affluents 
of  the  great  Teutonic  family,  such  as  Swiss  and  Scandina 
vians,  spread  over  the  land,  and  strike  their  roots  in  the 
bosom  of  the  American  people.  They  become  its  intrinsic 
compound,  in  larger  and  larger  proportions.  Psycho 
logically  therefore,  as  well  as  physiologically,  they  influ 
ence  the  powers  and  the  formation  of  a  new  population, 
above  all  in  the  West,  in  whose  morally  and  physically 
untrammelled  spaces,  the  American  historical  and  humani 
tarian  signification  will  become  completed,  the  future 
elaborated  and  fulfilled. 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.         287 


CHAPTER  VIIL 

EDUCATION    OF   THE    PEOPLE. 

FOR  past  centuries  and  even  now,  Europe  educates  certain 
classes  of  society,  rather  than  the  masses  of  the  people. 
America,  which  in  reality  has  no  classes — as  all  such  dis 
tinctions  here  are  absolutely  conventional,  and  thus  abso 
lutely  fanciful  and  illogical — but  a  people — America  in 
augurated  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  culture,  a 
people  educating  itself.  The  educational  system,  its  con 
ception,  tendency,  agencies  and  execution  in  America  and 
Europe  are  the  most  conspicuous  features  in  the  chain  of 
superiorities  and  of  differences  between  the  new  and  the  old 
continent  and  society. 

Nearly  every  European  state  has  a  different  system  of 
spreading  a  certain  rudimentary  instruction  among  the 
masses  of  the  people.  All  of  them  differ  in  principle  and 
in  working,  from  what  is  done  and  carried  out  in  the 
American  free  States.  All  of  them  have  in  view  to  pro 
vide  the  people  with  limited  elementary  instruction, 
scarcely  sufficient  for  the  practical,  or  rather  the  mechani 
cal  use  of  every-day  life,  rather  than  to  stir  up,  to  stimu 
late  the  intellect,  to  develop  and  make  it  susceptible  of  a 
higher  impulse.  The  tuition  in  the  European  primary 
schools,  generally  ends  with  teaching  to  read  and  write,  and 
the  first  rules  of  arithmetic,  but  there  does  not  exist,  as 
in  the  American  townships  and  villages,  an  uninterrupted 


288  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

and  closely  connected  or  ascending  chain  of  general  in 
struction.  Europe  has  cared  little  to  possess  enlightened 
masses. 

When,  after  the  terrible  tempest  which  marked  ihe 
commencement  of  the  middle  ages,  some  of  the  European 
nations  began  toilsomely  to  dispel  the  darkness  which  en 
veloped  them,  the  most  rudimental  instruction  was  lim 
ited  to  a  comparatively  few.  The  difficulties  to  be  ovar- 
come  were  numerous,  and  for  various  reasons  instruc 
tion  was  inaccessible  to  the  mass,  and  thus  limited  tc  a 
class  of  the  nation  or  of  single  communities.  Public  in 
struction  preserved  for  centuries  this  character  of  exclu- 
siveness  or  limitations,  and  even  yet  has  not  wholly  thrown 
it  off.  General  and  higher  information  or  intellectual  ed 
ucation  is  still  beyond  the  reach  of  the  masses,  even  in 
states  prominent  for  their  ^tducational  establishments,  as 
are  Prussia  and  some  other  parts  of  Germany,  Sweden, 
Belgium,  Greece.  Various  reasons  contribute  to  make 
the  access  to  them  difficult,  if  not  wholly  impossible.  In 
old  times  the  children  of  the  lower  classes,  of  the  peas 
antry  and  laborers,  often  only  by  accident  received  pri 
mary  instruction  from  a  parish  priest,  or  from  a  monk. 
And  out  of  such  accidents  there  emerged  a  Luther,  a 
Keppler,  and  several  of  those  names  immortal  in  the  rec 
ords  of  human  progress.  But  the  mass  remained  in  igno 
rance.  In  modern  times  poverty,  often  indifference,  pre 
vents  the  immense  majority  of  the  lower  classes  in  Eu 
rope,  from  resorting  to  educational  establishments,  from 
which  they  are  no  longer  excluded  by  social  or  political 
limitations. 

The  cardinal  hinderance,  however,  in  Europe,  proceeds 
from  what  so  distinctly  and  in  the  original  source  and 
germ  separates  the  two  social  organisms.  In  Europe  the 
education  of  the  people  is  the  task  of  governments  acting 


EDUCATION   OF  THE   PEOPLE. 

from  above ;  in  America  the  people  cares  itself  for  it,  and 
has  the  whole  subject  in  its  hands.  The  educational  sys 
tem  in  the  American  public  common  schools,  is  the  high- 

i  est  triumph  of  democracy  and  of  self-government.  The 
European  nations  expect  every  thing  to  be  done  by  their 
governments,  and  are  satisfied  with  crumbs  thrown  to 
them.  The  English  nation,  enjoying  self-government  in 
several  minor  combinations,  does  not  understand  how  to 
derive  therefrom  this  self-improving  energy,  so  strongly  in 
born  among  the  Americans.  The  English  people  has  not 
raised  itself  to  the  elevated  condition  of  bringing  within 
the  reach  of  the  masses  a  thorough  elementary  education. 
If  the  English  do  not  expect,  as  the  nations  of  the  conti- 

I  nent,  to  have  the  work  done  by  the  government,  they  look 
to  the  patronage,  to  the  stimulus  from  the  powerful  and 
influential  landed  aristocracy,  and  as  often  to  that  of  the 
church.  The  example  of  America  stirs  up  England. 
Scotland,  although  covered  with  primary  schools,  has 
nothing  which  can  compare  with  the  common  schools  of 
this  country.  All  over  Europe  the  tuition  succeeding  to 
the  first  rudiments,  can  only  be  acquired  in  superior 
schools,  located  in  larger  boroughs  and  cities,  and  supplied 
there  by  the  government.  Thus  the  access  to  them  is  al 
most  impossible  to  the  children  of  poor  laborers,  of  agri 
culturists,  to  the  immense  majority  of  the  peasantry. 
An  American  town  or  village  corresponding  to  an  Euro 
pean  borough,  has  several  primary  schools,  and  generally 
one  of  a  second  degree,  and  then  a  high  school,  within  the 
reach  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  township,  where  the 
children  of  both  sexes  can  successively  acquire  a  certain 

i  store  of  various  general  information,  by  which  they  can 
be  fairly  piloted  through  after  life.  Among  the  immense 

:      majority  of  the   European  masses,  a  kind   of  mental  col- 

:  lapse  follows  the  sparse  instruction  received  in  the  village 
13 


290  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

or  some  other  primary  school.  The  freeman  of  Arnerk  a, 
even  in  the  most  humble  worldly  condition,  is  accomj  a- 
nied  generally  through  life  by  the  thirst  for  spreading  a  id 
increasing  the  information  once  acquired  in  the  schools  )f 
his  village  or  town.  As  the  ancient  mediaeval  cities  a  id 
boroughs  were  studded  with  turrets  and  gates,  so  the 
American  town  or  village  is  surrounded  with  common 
school-houses,  over  which  towers  the  high  school,  at  the 
side  of  private  establishments  for  education.  For  the 
same  amount  of  population,  the  proportion  between  the 
facilities  existing  here  for  the  use  of  the  people,  and  a 
European  country  enjoying  even  the  best  educational  sys 
tem,  can  be  fairly  put  as  four  to  one.  The  inhabitants  of 
the  American  township  create,  vote  and  pay  their  schools, 
and  increase  their  number,  when  the  European  centralisa 
tion — it  can  be  said — on^  niggardly  supplies  the  like 
wants  of  the  people.  An  American  community  of  twen  :y- 
five  hundred  or  three  thousand  inhabitants  spends  cheor- 
fully  three  thousand  dollars  to  pay  the  expenses,  and  the  sal 
ary  of  the  teachers  of  its  schools ;  a  corresponding  sum  is 
scarcely  bestowed  on  the  same  object  by  a  European  govern 
ment,  in  cities  with  from  ten  to  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  school  fund  in  the  like  American  villages,  absorbs 
about  one-third  of  the  communal  taxes  and  expenditures, 
and  this  item  leads  the  van  in  the  communal  budget ;  in 
that  of  European  governments  it  is  generally  at  the  end 
of  all  the  others.  Large  cities  here  devote  larger  sums 
to  educational  purposes,  than  do  whole  provinces  of  the 
most  civilized  character  in  Europe.  The  whole  money 
-spent  yearly  for  schools,  academies,  colleges  in  the  United 
States  will  almost  surpass  what  all  the  European  govern 
ments,  put  together,  devote  to  the  same  object,  the  popula 
tion  of  Europe  being  more  than  tenfold  greater  than  that 
of  the  American  Commonwealth. 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.         291 

In  Europe  the  village  schoolmaster  was  of  old,  and  is 
still  to  a  great  extent,  the  personified  mental  misery,  ma 
terial  poverty,  and  often  an  object  of  ridicule.  In  France 
the  position  of  schoolmasters  is  in  every  respect  deplorable ; 
their  dependence  upon  the  government  absolute.  In  Prus 
sia  and  several  parts  of  Germany,  the  situation  of  this 
most  beneficial  class  of  the  community  is  comparatively 
ameliorated.  Generally  they  go  through  certain  studies, 
preparatory  to  a  vocation,  which  is  lasting  during  good  be 
havior  and  the  will  of  the  government.  But  nowhere  in 
Europe,  governed,  directed,  conducted  with  ribbons,  does 
the  woman  present  so  generally  the  cheering  sight  of  be 
coming  the  first  tender  and  devoted  nurse  of  infantine  in 
tellect  in  the  elementary  common  schools,  as  is  the  case  in 
those  of  America.  The  like  occurrences  in  Europe  re 
sult  rather  from  accident,  but  are  not  a  deliberate  aim. 
Here  the  young  woman  prepares  herself  freely  by  study, 
to  supply  this  demand,  largely  made  on  her  by  the  com 
munity.  It  is  one  of  the  noblest  tasks  of  her  social  con 
dition  ;  and  thus  the  American  woman,  from  among  the 
humblest  strata  of  the  people,  is  6ne  of  the  principal 
.sources  and  agencies  of  the  incontestable  superiority  in 
the  intellectual  development  of  the  American  over  the 
European  masses.  For  women  and  men  this  function 
forms  mostly  a  transition  to  other  social  duties  and  pur 
suits.  Schoolmasters  are  among  the  most  eminent  men  of 
America  in  the  literary  and  in  the  political  career.  For  the 
intelligent  farmers,  artisans,  all  kind  of  operatives,  as  well 
as  for  the  wealthy  merchant,  the  professional  man,  a  female 
school  teacher  is  often  the  most  desirable  wife. 

Fresh  from  schools  and  colleges,  girls  and  young  men 
devote  the  first  years  of  their  matured  activity  to  teach 
in  public  common  schools.  They  fulfil  this  task  with  the 
unshaken  confidence  of  youth  in  its  energies.  Not  yet 


292  AMERICA  AND   ETJKOPE. 

withered  by  disappointments  and  mishaps,  they  generally 
for  a  time  only,  and  thus  cheerfully  discharge  this  func 
tion.  By  this — so  to  say,  initiatory  step — into  the  hard 
ships  of  life,  other  broader  prospects  and  expectations  are 
not  darkened  or  cut  off,  but  on  the  contrary  brighten  and 
unfold.  In  Europe  the  village  schoolmaster  is  either  a 
poor  weather-beaten  and  used-up  wanderer  through  lifj, 
or  as  schoolmaster,  excluded  from  all  other  prospects  and 
hopes,  he  becomes  a  narrow-minded  disciplinarian,  going 
mechanically,  without  love  or  attraction,  through  a  weary- 
routine. 

On  the  comirion  schools,  more  than  any  other  basi?, 
depends  and  is  fixed  the  future,  the  weal  and  the  woe  ( f 
American  society,  and  they  are  the  noblest  and  most  h.- 
minous  manifestations  of  the  spirit,  the  will  and  the  ten  - 
per  of  the  genuine  America  communities  and  people. 
They  are  the  results  of  its  self-respect,  of  the  compreher  - 
sion  of  its  duties.  The  people  feel  that  self-government 
cannot  go  on  with  ignorance  ;  that  education  is  the  granit3 
rock  on  which  reposes  the  political  organization.  Even 
children  are  aware  and  feel  the  vital  necessity  and  influ 
ence  of  knowledge ;  that  it  opens  and  facilitates  success 
in  all  pursuits  and  undertakings.  Children  and  adults 
feel  that  to  be  well  informed,  is  to  fulfil  a  moral  dut}' 
towards  themselves  and  towards  society.  Information 
becomes  to  them  as  necessary  as  air  and  daily  bread.  This 
makes  the  people  bestir  themselves  cheerfully  and  busily 
to  procure  and  sustain  the  schools.  Legislative  bodies,  as 
well  as  town  and  communal  meetings,  impose  taxes  on 
themselves  unhesitatingly  for  educational  purposes.  The 
European  masses  have  not  a  general  thirst  for  knowledge, 
deprived  as  they  still  are  by  various  reasons,  of  large  and 
untrammelled  openings  and  issues  into  the  great  current 
of  life.  They  are  not  yet  generally  actuated  by  the  con- 


EDUCATION   OF   THE   PEOPLE. 

sciousncss  and  self-respect,  resulting  from  political  as  well 
as  from  social  liberty.  They  have  not  the  consciousness 
that  the  destinies,  the  prosperity  of  society,  of  the  coun 
try,  the  normal  and  orderly  action  of  the  governmental 
organism  depends  upon  their  mental  elevation.  In  Eu 
rope  hitherto  every  thing,  even  the  diffusion  of  knowledge, 
is  comparatively  circumscribed,  centralized.  Although 
most  of  the  governments  are  aware  that  it  is  better  and 
safer  to  rule  and  govern  over  the  intelligent,  than  over  the 
ignorant  and  brutes,  they  still  labor  under  the  misconcep 
tion  that  the  instruction  of  the  masses,  in  order  not  to 
prove  dangerous,  requires  to  be  limited.  Their  object  is 
to  form  useful  but  ductile  and  obedient  subjects,  but  not 
self-relying,  independent  men,  investigating,  judging  and 
appreciating  their  rulers.  Long  protracted  and  various 
social,  political  and  governmental  depressions  have  re 
sulted  in  the  certain  and  almost  chronic  indifference  of 
the  masses  to  any  instruction  beyond  the  often  coarse  ru 
diments  of  an  elementary  one.  The  best  methods  and 
systems  will  be  inefficient  until  the  spirit  shall  awaken  and 
stimulate  the  man  from  within.  Inward  impulse  secures 
better  results  than  any  governmental  compulsion.  What 
ever  grows  by  itself,  by  its  own  vitality,  is  generally 
healthier  and  stronger  than  what  depends  upon  the  exter 
nal  care  of  often  strange  and  unfriendly  coadjutors. 

Century  after  century  has  multiplied  the  various  treas 
ures  of  science,  learning,  and  knowledge.  But  during 
ages  of  accumulation  and  transmission  of  all  those  mental 
riches,  they  did  not  produce  anywhere  in  Europe  a  well- 
informed,  mentally  developed,  intelligent  people — except 
perhaps  the  Florentine  democracy  on  the  eve  of  its  fall. 
Notwithstanding  the  great  beacons  of  knowledge  and  sci 
ence  illuminating  ages  and  generations,  notwithstanding 
the  matchless  universities,  the  numerous  and  well-orga- 


294  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

nized  gymnasia,  the  limitless  learning  of  numerous  individ 
uals  in  every  State,  in  every  nation,  the  masses  of  the  pop 
ulation  have  remained  and  remain  still  mostly  in  darkne,-  s 
and  ignorance,  even  in  the  so-called  most  favored  Euro 
pean  countries.  Information  is  not  domesticated  among 
them. 

Europe  possesses  great  savans  in  all  branches,  certain 
informed  and  polished  social  classes,  but  separated  by  a 
broad  intellectual  gap  from  the  immense  majority  of  the 
people.  .England,  with  her  brutalized  populations  in  the 
mining  districts,  with  her  ignorant  small  farmers,  laborers, 
and  working-men',  does  not  distance  continental  Europo, 
but  stands  behind  many  parts  of  Prussia  and  Germany. 
America,  fresh  and  new  on  this  arena,  cannot  vie  witii 
Europe  in  the  number  or  quality  of  those  giants  of  science, 
learning  and  philosophy.  America  has  not  the  facilities 
consisting  in  libraries,  in  higher  establishments,  in  in  - 
ditional,  uninterrupted  transmission,  and  can  admit  with 
out  shame  that  it  is  thus  outnumbered  by  the  learned  class 
in  Europe.  But  in  proportion  to  her  population,  Am  eric  i 
can  with  noble  pride  point  out  to  the  mass  of  well  in 
formed  people,  by  far  outnumbering  any  corresponding 
number  in  Europe.  Numerous  here  are  those  dilettanti 
of  knowledge,  who,  aside  from  the  practical  pursuits  in 
industry,  commerce,  or  any  profession,  follow  some  scien 
tific  and  literary  speciality,  not  sparing  time  and  cost  to 
satisfy  quietly  this  intelligent  attraction.  Europe,  how 
ever  thickly  planted  with  cities,  boroughs,  villages,  has  the 
intellectual  level  of  her  populations  far  below  that  of  the 
free  America.  If  this  country  has  no  such  eminences  as 
Europe,  her  plains  are  not  as  low,  dark  and  shallow.  For 
example,  five  million  Americans — the  Slave  States  of 
course  excepted — will  be  better  informed,  instructed,  and 
behaved,  than  an  equal  number  of  Europeans  from  any 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.          295 

country  whatever.  Europe,  with,  all  her  cities,  boroughs, 
palaces,  castles,  villas,  has  not  such  villages,  and  even  log- 
houses,  eagerly  intercepting  and  harboring  the  rays  of  civ 
ilization.  Broad  light  or  cheering  dawn  radiates  over  the 
American  horizon;  the  several  popular  revolutions,  reforms, 
as  well  as  the  tutelary,  paternal  efforts  of  European 
governments,  have  not  yet  dispelled  the  thick  and  heavy 
mist  enveloping  the  intellects  of  the  European  masses. 

Not  those  luminous  representatives,  rising  as  brilliant 
stars  over  the  general  darkness  and  ignorance,  constitute 
the  true  glory  of  our  race,  or  secure  its  happiness  ;  it  shall 
then  only  become  a  reality,  when  all,  even  the  humblest 
and  smallest,  shall  bathe  in  light,  and  their  mental  stu 
pidity  or  incapacity  be  relieved.  When  the  masses,  and 
not  only  minorities  or  few,  shall  reach  a  higher  moral, 
mental,  and  scientific  development,  then  alone  progress 
shall  become  a  social  truth.  Not  single  individualities, 
not  minorities,  are  to  ascend,  but  the  greatest  number. 
Excrescences,  hump-backs,  and  monsters,  form  compara 
tively  rare  occurrences  in  the  realm  of  material  creation ; 
care  and  culture  can  often  rectify  what  accident,  but  not 
an  absolute  law,  has  vitiated.  The  same  law  of  normal 
healthiness  prevails  in  the  mental  and  moral  world.  Germs 
of  mental  powers,  the  aptitude  for  their  multifold  develop 
ment,  growth,  and  scientific  humane  application  and  utili 
zation,  are  inborn  substantially  with  the  generality  of 
human  beings ;  in  congenial  conditions,  those  germs  be 
come  the  agencies,  impulses,  and  lights  of  human  actions. 
Whatever  may  be  the  assertions  of  moralists,  philosophers, 
sociologists,  and  theologians,  dividing  the  race  religiously 
and  socially  into  flocks  and  shepherds,  establishing  the  ne 
cessity  of  supreme,  independent  authorities,  and  demon 
strating  the  utter  incapacity  of  the  masses  to  an  enlight 
ened  spontaneity,  and  to  an  unconditional  progress,  intellec- 


296  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

tual  absolute  inferiority,  incapacity,  and  ignorance,  are  dio- 
eases,  and,  as  such,  an  abnormal  state ;  and  thus  they  ai  e 
the  condition  only  of  a  few  ;  at  the  utmost,  of  considerable 
minorities.  It  is  not  on  account  of  any  inborn  inability ? 
that  the  masses  have  been  hitherto  groping  in  the  darl:, 
and  require  tutorship  and  direction ;  that  they  must  be 
stirred  up,  incited,  often  dragged,  to  acquire  knowledge ; 
but  the  faulty  social  order  generates  stagnation,  crushes 
out  or  checks  the  civilizatory  spontaneity  of  the  masses. 
By  the  action  of  this  perverted  order,  numberless  minds 
and  intellects  have  been  and  are  continually  murdered  ; 
and  over  the  masses  was  pronounced  a  condemnatory  vei- 
dict  of  imbecility.  So  it  has  been  from  of  old,  through  cer- 
turies  and  generations.  America  made  the  first  lift,  the  firtt 
effort  to  restore  to  every  individual  the  use  of  his  mentul 
faculties,  bringing  within  his  Breach  the  fertilizing  means 
of  instruction.  The  spark  lament  in  every  human  creatur  3 
can  thus  enkindle,  the  dignity  of  humanity  become  re 
deemed  in  the  masses.  The  common  schools  are  the  noblo 
initiators  to  this  new  and  better  era.  Whatever  may  bo 
the  imperfections  and  hinderances  in  their  action,  those  will 
be  corrected  or  overcome ;  but  on  the  extension  of  such 
schools  depend  the  true  progress  and  the  all-embracing  civ 
ilization  of  the  people. 

The  aim  of  the  various  degrees  of  common  schools  is 
to  form  enlightened  members  of  the  community,  as  well  as 
skilful,  well  informed,  practical  artisans,  operatives,  me 
chanics,  agriculturists.  In  this  view,  instruction  extending 
the  horizon  of  thought,  giving  ballast  to  the  mind,  like 
ethics,  history,  literature,  ought  to  go  hand  in  hand  with 
the  teaching  of  all  the  branches  of  the  exact  and  natural  sci 
ences  ;  on  the  knowledge  of  which  eminently  depends  any 
success  in  the  every-day  undertakings,  occupations,  and 
pursuits  of  life.  Those  last  branches  seem  hitherto  to 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.         297 

have  been  rather  pushed  into  the  background ;  but  their 
union  with  the  former  completes  genuine  civilization,  fixes 
the  material  and  social  prosperity  of  the  whole  country. 
Every  mechanical  pursuit  is  a  science  in  itself;  such  a 
pursuit,  to  become  really  productive,  ought  to  be  carried 
out  scientifically.  Education  ought  therefore,  at  the  start, 
to  familiarize  with  the  scientific  elements,  whose  applica 
tion  and  further  development  are  to  become  the  every 
day's  task  of  life.  What  is  done  already  in  Europe  on  a 
small  scale,  must  be  enlarged,  made  truly  popular  in 
America.  Germany  possesses  technical  schools,  wherein 
artisans  and  operatives  receive  the  necessary  instruction 
for  their  various  callings.  France  has  in  Paris  and  other 
cities  schools  for  artisans  and  trades.  England,  where  the 
true  education  of  the  masses  is  scarcely  in  an  embryonic 
state,  England  has  several  schools  for  grown-up  artisans 
and  mechanics,  where  drawing  and  some  other  objects  of 
immediate  practical  use  are  taught.  But  all  that  is  done 
in  Europe  has  the  character  of  restriction  ;  accident  brings 
the  working-man  into  contact  with  localities  possessing  the 
like  establishments.  The  American  common-schools,  those 
intellectual  nurseries  of  the  whole  people,  ought  to  bring 
to  the  home  of  each  one,  and  within  the  range  of  all,  every 
department  of  necessary  and  useful  knowledge. 

New  England  was  and  is  the  centre,  from  which  the 
common  schools  spread  over  the  other  parts  of  the  country. 
New  York,  Ohio,  vie  to-day  with  her — so  justly  deserving 
the  name  of  the  brain  of  the  Union.  The  younger  Free 
States  of  the  West,  a  political  and  intellectual  progeny  of 
the  East,  through  common  schools  lay  the  corner-stones 
of  their  social  structures  ; — in  the  same  way  as  the  South 
ern  States  base  these  structures  on  slavery.  New  England 
is  the  animating  spirit  of  civilization,  not  only  by  her  ex 
ample  ;  but  her  children  of  both  sexes  spread  as  teachers 


298  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

over  the  whole  area  of  the  Union.  If  it  is  a  business,  a 
way  of  earning  subsistence,  it  is  the  most  useful  and  ben  3- 
ficial  one  for  the  American  community  at  large.  Those 
shoots  of  the  Eastern,  Northern,  and  Western  Free  States, 
penetrating  into  the  South,  and  there  establishing  schools 
and  classes,  prevent  the  utter  ruin  and  degradation  of  tl  e 
white  population.  The  intervention  of  these  missionaries 
of  knowledge  arrests  the  Slaveholding  South  on  the,  ver£  e 
of  an  abyss;  it  prevents  it  from  collapsing  into  the  total  igno 
rance  and  barbarity,  into  which  it  is  irrevocably  dragged 
by  the  cherished  institution. 

The  common  schools  are  the  result,  the  creation  of  tl  e 
democratic  spirit  of  America,  and  therein  is  the  source  of 
their  incontestable  superiority  over  the  European  education 
al  establishments,  which  are  consecra ted-to  what  is  called  in 
Europe  the  common  people.^  v  But  the  superiority  of  tie 
workings  of  the  democratic  spirit  can  be  verified,  even  in 
America,  by  comparing  the  common  schools  with  the  su 
perior  colleges.  These  colleges  were  mostly  founded 
during  the  colonial  period,  in  strict  imitation  of  the  like 
establishments  in  the  mother  country.  The  common 
schools,  on  the  other  hand,  originated  in  the  wants  and 
necessities  felt  by  the  people,  are  the  creation  of  its  will ; 
they  are  born  and  evolve  from  new  and  different  events  and 
conditions.  Thus,  while  the  higher  establishments  still 
preserve  their  original  scholastic  and  English  character, 
the  common  schools,  a  genuine  domestic  growth,  are  tlio 
product  of  American  civilization. 

The  colleges  in  America,  being  corporate  bodies,  and 
mostly  sectarian  institutions,  are  thus  exposed  in  various 
ways  to  becoming  narrow-minded  and  exclusive,  as  arc 
almost  always  close  societies,  whatever  be  their  character 
and  name.  Such  associations  easily  become  stiffened  and 
retrograde,  as  their  nature,  like  that  of  corporations,  is 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.         299 

rather  to  contract  than  to  expand,  their  views  often  being 
governed  by  petty  interests  or  individual  animosities. 
Neither  the  sectarian  spirit  nor  corporations  can  ever  be 
equitable  and  all-embracing.  Examples  thereof  abound  in 
Europe  as  well  as  in  America,  in  matters  concerning  know 
ledge,  sciences,  ethics,  politics,  as  well  as  other  more  prac 
tical  and  daily  purposes.  Here,  of  late,  the  pressure  of 
public  opinion,  the  direct  interference  of  the  will  of  the 
people,  have  in  many  occurrences  corrected  the  evil,  have 
instilled  a  purer  and  more  elastic  spirit  into  the  corporations, 
which  direct  and  absolutely  rule  the  colleges,  corporations, 
which,  contracted  by  dogmatic  or  political  prejudices,  do 
not  give  the  necessary  free  scope  to  science,  to  investiga 
tion,  and  judgment,  and  have  often  appointed  professors, 
not  on  account  of  their  scientific,  but  of  dogmatic  or  partisan 
merits.  Therein  corporations  rival  often  in  illiberality 
the  most  absolutist  and  retrograde  government  in  Eu 
rope.  It  would  therefore  be  desirable.,  as  being  more 
in  harmony  with  the  broad  foundations  on  which  reposes 
the  American  civility,  and  with  the  object  of  truly  popular 
civilization,  that  the  colleges  should  recast,  and  come  more 
directly  and  fully  into  communion  with  the  needs  of  the 
people,  and  be  more  directly  controlled  by  it 

The  Grymnasia,  and  above  all  the  universities  of  Eu 
rope,  although  under  the  control  of  governments,  are  in 
many  respects  superior  to  the  American  colleges,  which, 
like  the  European  universities,  are  to  bestow  the  final  su 
perior  instruction.  The  American  colleges  can  be  only 
considered  in  general  as  a  mediating  degree  to  a  higher 
universary  instruction.  They  are  scholastic  in  their  meth 
od,  and  lack  the  free  spirit  animating  the  Universities  of 
Continental  Europe.  The  European  Universities,  for  cen 
turies  of  their  existence,  were  the  foci  in  which  new  and 
large  ideas  in  philosophy,  science,  even  in  religion,  were 


300  AMERICA    AND   EUROPE. 

elaborated.  Thus  centuries  ago  the  University  of  Paiis 
was  the  arena  of  the  struggle  between  the  nominalists 
and  realists,  a  conception  which,  under  various  change  s, 
modifications,  and  names,  still  divides  the  philosophic 
world.  The  Sorbonne  of  Paris  systematized  Roman 
ism.  The  Italian,  and  the  German  Universities,  cast  inco 
the  world  many  luminous  conceptions,  gave  many  solu 
tions,  philosophical,  learned,  and  scientific.  The  Amei  i- 
can  colleges,  although  possessing  men  of  eminent  learning 
and  great  mental  accomplishments,  have  not  exercised  su<;h 
an  influence  on  the  social  or  scientific  progress  of  the  coun 
try,  have  not  projected  any  striking  light  on  philosophical, 
scientific,  or  social  problems.  In  America,  as  in  Englanl, 
almost  every  great  movement  and  progress  has  been  accoi  i- 
plished  independent  of  the  learned  and  collegiate  corpora 
tions.  When  aristocraticaL  notions,  when  the  division  of 
society  into  classes,  ruled  with  almost  omnipotent  sway  over 
the  European  nations,  the  universities  almost  alone  reprs- 
sented  and  even  practised  the  free  and  democratic  idea. 
The  American  colleges,  reverberating  English  immobility, 
have  a  tint  of  an  aristocratical  and  exclusive,  and  often  ar 
rogant  character.  I  do  not  aflirm  that  the  Universities  of 
Europe  always  were  liberal,  or  that  they  have  not  often 
shown  a  spirit  of  persecution.  Unhappily  their  history 
proves  that  they  at  times  have  been  animated  by  this  hate 
ful  influence.  They  had  their  luminous  and  dark  days, 
and  those  are  on  record.  Thus,  for  example,  the  univer 
sity  of  Tubingen,  the  greatest  Protestant  authority  at  the 
birth  of  the  reformation,  which  for  this  reason  ought  to 
have  been  progressive  in  all  scientific  conceptions,  that 
university  protested  against  the  system  of  Copernicus,  as 
contradictory  to  biblical  and  classical  authorities ;  and  the 
faculties  of  Tubingen  persecuted  Kepler  with  great  ani 
mosity,  not  because  he  practised  astrology,  but  because  he 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.          301 

accepted  and  developed  the  Copernican  system.  Jenner 
and  Fulton  were  likewise  condemned  by  scientific  corpo 
rations,  -whose  nature  in  general  is  clannish,  attached  to  es 
tablished  systems,  and  averse  to  new,  routine-breaking  in 
ventions  and  impulses. 

The  American  colleges  attach,  if  not  an  exclusive, 
at  any  rate  an  overwhelming  weight  and  significance 
to  classical  studies,  as  if  the  whole  range  of  human  culture 
were  principally  encompassed  in  ancient  languages.  They 
labor  under  the  conviction  that  a  dead  language,  to  be  ac 
quired  after  much  toil  by  study,  nevertheless  forms  a  bet 
ter  discipline  of  the  mind  than  the  vernacular  one,  in  which 
the  ideas  are  born  and  clothed,  in  which  the  intellect  works 
and  utters  itself.  The  philosophical,  scientific  and  social 
progress  of  our  race  is  at  present  manifested  and  embodied 
in  the  modern  languages ;  the  most  perfect  classic  scholar 
will  be  wholly  ignorant  where  the  world  stands,  in  all 
that  is  useful,  practical  and  moral,  in  his  day.  One  of  the 
results  of  this  preponderance  of  classical  studies  is  that 
the  collegiate  youth  is  more  familiar  with  the  facts — and 
not  even  with  the  true  spirit — of  the  history  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  than  with  the  literature,  with  the  political  history, 
with  the  history  of  the  culture  and  progress  of  European 
nations,  with  which  that  of  America  is  more  immediately 
connected,  and  from  which  it  directly  descends.  Classical 
studies,  and  above  all  that  of  the  Latin  language,  were 
paramount  in  Europe  at  a  time  when  the  Catholic  Church 
adopting  it  was  the  paramount  dispenser  of  knowledge  ;  it 
can  be  said  that  at  that  time  the  Latin  was  almost  a  living 
language,  used  not  only  in  education,  but  in  literature, 
in  governmental  judicial  acts,  and  often  in  daily  com 
mon  intercourse.  Learning,  education,  were  then  al 
most  entirely  restricted  to  a  limited  number,  and  formed 
a  privilege  of  difficult  access.  The  vernacular  languages, 


302  AMEKICA   AND   EUROPE. 

in  all  scientific  pursuits,  were  then  in  the  state  of  inf  3- 
riority,  were  only  dialects.  All  the  conditions  favorab  e 
to  the  supremacy  of  the  Latin  disappeared  every  wher3, 
and  never  were  extended  in  America,  who,  herself  tl  e 
offspring  of  new  ideas,  in  the  highest  education  of  her 
children  ought  to  take  a  course  more  in  harmony  with  tl  e 
claims  of  the  spirit  of  the  age,  with  the  social  and  practi 
cal  requirements  of  the  people.  The  classical  studies  are 
to  become  accessory  and  ornamental,  and  the  whole  ran£  e 
of  the  modern  civilization,  with  its  languages,  history,  lit 
eratures,  exact  and  natural  sciences,  ought  to  form  tl  e 
basis  of  public  education. 

European  governments  pay  a  due  homage  to  the  supe 
riority  of  the  democratic  principle,  as  manifested  in  tl:c 
common  schools  of  America,  and  thus  confirm  their  com 
parative  superiority  over  the^ various  colleges.  Several  of 
these  governments  continually  investigate  and  by  every 
means  apply  themselves  to  gaining  an  acquaintance  with  the 
system,  the  method,  and  their  so  successful  execution  in 
the  United  States.  They  attempt  to  imitate ;  but  a  dead 
skeleton  in  their  hands  without  the  animating  spirit  cannot 
give  the  same  fruits  as  here.  But  no  one  of  the  European 
governments  pays  any  attention  to  the  organization  of  tho 
American  colleges.  They  know  that  they  belong  to  the  past 
— and  of  the  past,  Europe  after  all  has  the  good  and  the 
evil,  inferior,  but  likewise  superior  educational  institutions. 

The  new  Free  States  in  the  West,  erecting  superior 
educational  establishments,  enlarge  the  conception,  and 
are  in  a  fair  way  to  make  these  establishments  truly  popu 
lar  institutions.  The  new  academies  and  colleges,  as  well 
as  those  erected  of  late  in  the  State  of  New  York,  arc 
created  by  the  people,  and  not  submitted  to  close  corpora 
tions.  Although  they  retain  some  of  the  deficiencies  of 
the  old  colleges,  they  in  many  respects  approach  nearer  to 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.         303 

the  European  universities.  The  fresh  and  healthy  spirit, 
independent  of  old  routine,  prevailing  in  general  in  these 
new  States,  makes  it  probable,  that  at  no  distant  time  the 
West  may  perfect  these  higher  establishments,  and  make 
them  correspond,  as  well  to  the  democratic  spirit  and  to 
the  wants  of  the  people  at  large,  as  do  already  the  public 
common  schools. 

Public  lectures  number  among  the  agencies  and  means 
for  nourishing  intellectual  activity,  and  diffusing  various 
general  knowledge.  Cities,  towns  and  villages  thus  enjoy 
a  pastime,  a  mental  recreation,  both  useful  and  laudable. 
One  part  of  the  population,  prepared  by  former  studies  or 
readings,  and  having  thus  sharpened  its  intellectual  ap 
petite,  is  supplied  through  lectures  with  new  facts  and  no 
tions,  and  enabled  to  keep  pace  with  the  general  run  of 
events,  with  the  literary  and  scientific  evolutions,  which 
they  are  prevented  from  following  in  any  other  way  by 
the  daily  hard  or  assiduous  occupations  of  life.  To  the 
wholly  ignorant  a  lecture  brings  new  food,  opens  a  new 
world,  often  stirs  up  the  mind,  and  awakens  the  inclination 
for  information.  From  the  oldest  times  public  lectures 
were  delivered  in  Greece  and  Rome,  by  philosophers  and 
rhetors ;  as  they  were  also  by  professors  of  universities  in 
the  mediaeval  as  well  as  in  modern  times.  The  professor, 
remunerated  for  other  labors,  generally  offered  one  lec 
ture  gratuitously.  The  access  to  these  somewhat  excep 
tional  lectures,  was  in  principle  free  to  all,  but  the  top 
ics  were  rarely  interesting  or  attractive  for  the  mass  of 
poor  and  ignorant  people.  Besides,  such  lectures  were 
delivered  in  so-to-say  secluded  spots,  generally  in  capitals, 
the  larger  cities,  or  in  those  possessing  universities.  It  is 
only  in  America  that%  stimulated  by  the  inborn  craving  in 
the  Yankee  for  information,  lectures  have  become  a  pop 
ular  institution,  a  social  necessity,  and  a  profession. 


304  AMEKICA   AND   EUROPE. 

Started  up  by  the  example  of  this  country,  England  h  is 
extended  the  usage  of  lectures,  known  there  long  ago,  but 
never  used  as  a  general  popular  measure.  Now  the  nobl  3S 
begin  to  lecture  for  their  tenants.  It  is  a  step,  but  a  r  3- 
stricted  one.  The  spirit  of  aristocracy  will  exercise  a 
censorship  over  the  choice  of  the  topics.  It  will  be  one 
of  bonplaisir,  and  very  likely  conservative  of  the  rights 
of  the  better  classes.  The  lecturing  in  America  is  carried 
out  with  a  method  and  continuity  evidencing  that  not  <  n 
artificially  created  demand,  but  a  vital  necessity  of  the 
masses  is  to  be  satisfied. 

On  the  continent  of  Europe,  popular  lecturing  is  tl- 
most  unknown,  and  in  the  present  mental  and  politic  il 
condition  of  the  masses,  it  is  impossible.  American  lec 
turing  is  the  fruit  of  freedom,  and  its  demand  reveals  the 
existence  of  a  people  prepared  to  hear,  a  people  alreac  y 
enlightened.  Uncontrolled  freedom  like  that  exercised 
and  enjoyed  here  is  nowhere  to  be  found  on  the  conti 
nent.  Here  the  people,  its  sense  or  taste,  public  opinion, 
control  the  lecturer ;  in  Europe  for  such  an  exercise  gov 
ernmental  authorization  is  imperatively  required.  The  fe  vv 
scientific,  practical  lectures  delivered  in  large  cities  for 
the  use  of  operatives,  are  made  mostly  by  the  provision 
of  government,  without  having  the  character  of  popular 
measures.  The  millions  and  millions  of  inhabitants  of  the 
smaller  cities,  towns  and  villages,  have  never  brought 
within  their  reach  this  mode  of  instructive  entertainment. 
And  in  truth  these  masses  are  still  kept  in  such  ignorance, 
so  uneducated,  that  lectures  would  be  for  them  neither  at 
tractive  nor  profitable.  The  European  governments  know 
too  well,  that  the  only  welcome  lecturer  to  the  masses  of 
cities,  as  well  as  of  the  country,  would  be  the  men  who 
might  speak  to  them  of  their  wrongs,  injustices,  and  various 
social,  governmental,  and  administrative  oppressions  and 


EDUCATION   OF   THE   PEOPLE.  305 

exactions.  On  such  topics,  and  on  the  means  to  get  rid 
of  the  evil,  or  to  have  it  at  least  corrected,  the  European 
masses  crave  to  be  enlightened.  Their  immediate  inter 
est  bears  on  their  immediate  sufferings.  Literary,  artisti- 
cal,  scientific,  encyclopedical  disquisitions,  so  acceptable 
and  beneficial  here,  a  brief  analysis  of  passions,  characters, 
men,  things,  of  social  and  governmental  problems, — this 
average  of  sound  nourishment  sucked  in  from  lectures  by 
the  American  country  people,  would  be  neither  understood 
nor  wished  for  by  the  mass  of  the  people  of  any  European 
country. 

Lecturing  in  America  has  become  a  trade,  a  business 
more  or  less  profitable,  according  to  the  capacity  of  the 
lecturer,  his  literary,  scintific  or  political  notoriety,  ac 
cording  often  to  the  excitement  and  even  the  infatuation 
of  the  moment.  In  the  immense  extension  which  lectur 
ing  has  now  acquired,  much  abuse  can  exist,  much  com 
mon-place  may  be  enlarged,  diluted,  and  thus  served  out 
to  the  often  too  confiding  public.  But  even  the  poorest 
lecturer  throws  into  the  mind  some  incentives,  obliges  his 
hearers  to  exercise  the  power  of  thinking  and  judging. 
He  evokes  inward  doubt,  criticism,  and  thus  often  the 
wish  to  become  better  informed.  It  is  always  an  intelli 
gent  occupation  to  listen  to  a  lecture,  to  concentrate 
attention  on  even  a  seemingly  if  not  really  serious  object ; 
and  every  friend  of  progress  ought  to  wish  that  the  Euro 
pean  populations  might  reach  such  a  degree  of  mental  de 
velopment,  that  even  mediocre  lectures  might  be  attrac 
tive  and  profitable  to  them. 

Libraries,  public  and  private,  the  diffusion  and  use  of 
books  of  every  kind,  facilitate  the  mental  progress  of  the 
people  at  large,  supply  its  intellectual  cravings,  and  com 
plete  the  democratic  education,  which  constitutes  the  supe- 


306  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

riority  of  free,  self-improving,  self-relying  America,  over 
the  states  that  are  submerged  in  European  authority. 

The  accumulation  made  through  centuries  by  govern 
ment,  disposing  of  large  means,  has  formed  in  the  European 
world  those  great  depositories  of  the  productivity  of  t  ie 
human  mind,  with  which  the  American  public  libraries  <  if 
course  cannot  compare.  In  this  country  the  beginning 
was  small,  and  comparatively  recent  5  but  the  extension 
of  libraries  keeps  pace  with  the  rapid  increase  of  general 
prosperity.  Private  munificence  or  associations  originally 
founded  the  public  libraries  here.  The  various  collegi  s, 
endowed  in  this  way  with  libraries,  or  increasing  them  by 
their  own  means,  or  by  public  subscriptions,  although  u Li 
able  to  rival  the  libraries  possessed  by  the  European  ui  i- 
versities,  evidence  the  early  and  earnest  solicitude  of  a 
society  and  of  individuals  defending  upon  themselves,  LO 
provide  the  community  witn  means  of  education.  No  v, 
in  many  States,  the  legislatures,  those  organs  of  a  self-go  v 
erning  people,  extend  their  support  to  existing  libraries,  ard 
create  new  ones,  principally  in  view  of  the  normal  educa 
tion  of  the  masses.  The  public  common  schools  posse  >£ 
libraries,  and  their  stock  increases  yearly,  by  the  care  c  f 
the  popular  government,  by  the  care  of  the  communes.  J  n 
this  way  millions  of  books  are  put  at  the  disposal  of  tLe 
masses  in  the  Free  States.  School-books  embracing  vari 
ous  subjects  of  instruction  are  the  most  numerous  products 
of  American  typographical  industry.  None  of  the  village's, 
and  not  many  towns  and  boroughs  in  Europe  possess  public 
school  libraries,  they  have  no  such  fountains  for  the  supply 
of  their  intellectual  wants.  Neither  the  care  of  govern 
ments,  nor  private  solicitude,  extends  to  that  branch  of  tl.e 
diffusion  of  knowledge.  Where  such  resources  exist  they 
are  neglected  and  considered  as  the  last  of  all  the  neces 
sary  provisions.  In  the  Free  States,  some  few  of  the  more 


EDUCATION  OF  THE  PEOPLE.          307 

recent  ones  excepted,  in  New  England,  New  York,  Ohio, 
and^all  the  older  States,  there  is  scarcely  a  farm,  or  even 
a  log-house,  without  books ;  nothing  but  the  utmost  pov 
erty  prevents  a  family  from  surrounding  itself  with  these 
household  goods,  well  used  and  highly  valued,  and  almost 
wholly  unknown  to  the  millions  and  millions  of  European 
rustics,  operatives  and  working-men.  In  this  respect,  not 
any  European  country,  not  even  Germany  or  Prussia,  can 
compare  with  the  Free  States  of  the  Union.  The  Slave 
States  in  this  as  in  all  other  points  of  civilization,  carefully 
and  proudly  nurse  their  utter  inferiority.  This  use  of 
books  by  the  masses  explains,  aside  from  the  extension  of 
the  press,  the  consumption  of  paper,  yearly  surpassing  in 
America  that  of  France  and  England  put  together. 

Private  collections  of  books  are  more  numerous 
and  more  extended  among  the  population  of  the  Union, 
than  is  the  case  comparatively  in  Europe.  In  everji  Eu 
ropean  country  can  be  found  larger  and  more  complete 
libraries,  owned  by  certain  individuals  in  aristocratic  cas 
tles  and  palaces,  by  rich  parvenus,  and  a  few  others,  than 
among  private  persons  in  America,  but  these  special, 
individual  collections  are  surrounded  by  millions  of  men 
uneducated,  unlettered.  The  diffusion  of  books  among 
the  American  people  constitutes  one  of  these  rare  occur 
rences  in  the  comparison  of  the  two  worlds,  where  there  is 
less  show  and  more  reality  on  this  side  than  in  many  other 
conventional  terms  of  comparison.  Where  the  genuine 
democratic  spirit  is  at  work,  there  no  shams  are  possible.* 

*  Among  the  private  libraries  in  America,  the  one  collected  with 
the  most  masterly  choice  is  that  of  the  Rev.  Theodore  Parker,  in 
Boston.  Without  having  large  sums  at  his  disposal,  Mr.  Parker  is 
always  in  advance  of  every  public  library  in  America,  he  is  the  first  to 
enjoy  the  last  sterling  publications  concerning  history,  philosophy, 
theology,  that  are  issued  in  Germany,  England  or  France.  Each 


308  AMEKICA   AND   EUROPE. 

If  higher  scholarship,  exquisite  finish  and  refinem  mt 
in  arts,  scientific  supremacy,  have  hitherto  been  the  in 
contestable  patrimony  of  Europe;  all  this  is  chiefly  con 
centrated  in  a  comparatively  few  bright  eminences. 
America  has  enkindled  light  on  the  plains  where  undulate 
the  great  and  real  waves  of  mankind.  Europe  has  polish 
ed  classes  ;  learned  societies ;  but  with  less  preponderat  ng 
individual  learning,  America,  the  Free  States — stinu- 
lated,  led  on  by  New  England,  by  Massachusetts — they 
alone  possess  intelligent,  educated  masses. 

work  in  his  collection  reveals  the  earnest,  studious  and  progressive 
mind, — holding  communion  with  the  most  luminous,  learned  and  ad 
vanced  spirits  of  his  epoch. 


THE   PRESS.  309 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

THE   PKESS 

THE  independent  press  is  the  high  pontiff  of  our  epoch. 
Light  and  freedom  are  the  elements  of  its  life,  of  its  func 
tion.  The  press,  in  its  true  and  normal  comprehension,  is 
to  become  more  and  more  emphatically  the  most  sponta 
neous  utterance  of  the  human  spirit,  with  its  manifold 
thoughts,  impressions,  feelings,  faculties  and  passions.  In 
the  press  re-echo  the  most  delicate,  energetic  and  subtle 
powers  of  our  minds,  and  its  destiny  is  to  warm  and  en 
lighten,  to  radiate  in  all  directions  and  to  penetrate  into 
the  most  secret  recesses.  The  more  society  shall  free  it 
self  from  prejudices  and  from  deference  to  the  so-called, 
time-honored,  various  authorities,  the  more  must  grow  and 
expand  the  influence  of  the  press,  entering  and  transfixing 
all  the  social  crevices  and  fibres.  The  mission  of  the  press 
is  to  be  the  chivalry  of  the  age.  She  is  to  dissolve  pre 
judices,  disentangle  the  truth,  elucidate  if  not  solve  daily 
social,  political  and  administrative  problems,  defend  the 
oppressed,  the  poor,  bring  to  daylight  abuses,  discuss  with 
conscientious  independence  the  acts,  not  only  of  those  to 
whom  society  in  any  way  or  manner  intrusts  the  regula 
tion  of  its  affairs,  but  even  of  private  individuals  when 
their  actions  bear  upon  the  community.  On  account  of 


310  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

the  daily  increasing  power  of  the  press,  it  is  her  sacred 
duty  to  keep  always  elevated  before  the  public  a  higher 
standard  of  morality,  and  direct  towards  it  the  public 
opinion.  It  is  her  function  to  remind  men  of  rights,  to 
keep  communities  in  the  path  of  duty,  and  unfiinchi  ugly 
adhere  to  what  she  recognizes  as  true  and  elevated. 
The  press  may  err,  but  her  errors  are  pardonable  when 
they  originate  in  a  mistaken  judgment,  and  not  in  a  pre 
meditated  treason  to  her  own  convictions  and  faith. 

The  growing  influence  and  power  of  the  press  are  pro 
portional  to  the  increase  of  freedom  and  civilization  among 
nations.  This  is  an  indisputable  fact,  and  many  are  the 
reasons  which  account  for  it.  The  press  is  the  most  rapid 
way  of  initiation  to  life,  to  its  exigencies,  causalities,  ac 
tivity,  to  its  daily  occurring  phenomena.  It  is  accepted, 
valued  and  submitted  to  as  a  spiritual  chain  of  daily  •  com 
munion  between  personally  unknown  but  mentally  united, 
associated  individuals  and  numbers,  and  gives  them  the 
security  not  to  stand  alone,  to  have  convictions  shared,  to 
be  linked  with  many  in  tendencies,  aims,  purposes.  So  the 
press  serves  as  a  sign  of  mutual  recognition  for  those  who 
are  separated  by  space,  even  by  time.  Freedom  and  pub 
licity  are  the  cardinal  conditions  of  a  higher  development 
of  the  individual,  of  society,  of  communities.  The  fcimlike 
publicity  and  expansion  of  the  press,  constitute  and  ex 
plain  one  of  the  reasons  of  its  power. 

Every  new  idea,  notion,  opinion,  fact,  moral  or  mate 
rial  conception  brought  forward,  inaugurated  in  the  world 
to  assert  its  existence,  has  used  the  means  of  publicity, 
extant  at  the  time  of  its  appearance.  The  word  spoken 
by  the  prophets  and  masters,  by  philosophers,  and  even  by 
bards,  by  apostles  and  other  teachers,  was  the  most  imme 
diate  and  direct  way  of  bringing  forth  and  diffusing  among 
men  the  fruits  and  results  of  mental  activity.  The  printed 


THE   PRESS.  311 

word  stepped  in  and  became  the  channel  and  agency  of 
teachings,  communications  and  discussions.     Books,  pam 
phlets  then  became  the  most  appropriate  modes  of  publi 
city  and  mental  intercourse.     Finally,  in  most  such  cases 
the  press  becomes  the  vigorous,  rapid  organ,  inherits  and 
extends  the  activity  of  its  forerunners.      Nowadays,  -re 
ligion  and  science,  ethics  and  politics,  all  the  useful  inno 
vations  and  inventions  in  the  realm  of  mind  or  of  matter, 
in  one  word,  the  whole  productivity  of  the  human  spirit 
gravitates  towards  the  press,  and  searches  for  an  opening 
in  its  issues.     There  the  various  oscillations,  darings  and 
hesitations  of  the  human  mind  become  easily  and  broadly 
reflected.     The  progress  of  the  press  is  therefore  marked 
by  the  slow  but  uninterrupted  mastery  over  all  the  other 
means  and  ways  of  communication  and  publicity.     The 
press  welcomes  every  idea,  every  utterance  and  conception, 
i   nurses  them  carefully,  tenderly,  preserves  them  from  death 
•i   and   destruction,  introduces  them  into  the  world,  prepares 
i  the  ways  and  facilitates  their  reception.     The  press  con- 
;    tinues  and  in  most  cases  completes  the  education  of  the 
) »   masses.     It  is  the  oil  which  sustains  the  flame.     Its  prov 
idence-like  vigilance  wins  the  confidence  of  those  who  by 
their  daily  pursuits,  or  by  the  tendency  of  their  minds,  are 
prevented  from  watching  over  their  own  and  the  common 
;•    destinies  and  wants.     Towards  her  therefore  turn  opinions 
for  steady  direction  and  for  enlightenment.     Man  in  gen- 
*    eral  dislikes  to  submit  to  being  admonished,  directed,  or 
j    sermonized  by  special  individuals,  or  at  least  to  avow  such 
T,    positive  submission  to  any  one,  be  it  ruler,  priest,  moralist, 
?i    or  any  other  adviser  that  ma}/  be  singled  out.     In  the  mo- 
jj    ment  of  her  action  the  press  is  a  moral,  impersonal  agency, 
i»    acting  on  the  reason  of  each  individual,  and  thus  finds  an 
'i    easier  access  to  the  public  mind.     The  well-advised  submits 
e;    almost  unconsciously  to  her  suggestions.     Every  body  is 


312  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

aware  that  behind  a  newspaper  there  is  one  or  several  in 
dividuals,  whose  opinions  or  judgment  the  paper  repre 
sents.  But  as  their  communications  reach  the  public  in 
writing,  the  reader  forgets  the  individual  behind  his  i  ea- 
sonings  and  his  article  becomes  more  easily  accessible  j  ,nd 
impressive  ;  he  matures  and  deliberates  more  independently 
on  what  is  suggested,  or  what  is  acceptable  to  his  individu 
ality  and  reason,  than  could  generally  be  the  case  in  o:'al, 
personal  explanations.  The  more  energetic  and  rich  is  the 
spontaneity  of  a  press,  the  stronger  and  more  deeply  pene 
trating  her  influence.  When  she  understands  her  t  -ue 
dignity  and  influence,  the  press  is  the  most  independ  mt 
among  the  now  existing  social  powers.  It  can  be  said  tl  at, 
like  nature,  the  press  is  to  be  henceforth  eternally  creat  ive 
and  productive.  She  initiates,  evokes  to  life  the  activity 
of  all,  aids  discoveries,  p%opularizes  them;  she  presents 
the  arena  on  which  ideas  and  conceptions  become  purific  d  ; 
where  opinions,  convictions  meet  and  clash  against  euch 
other ;  and  where  the  only  forces  and  weapons  to  be  used 
ought  to  be  information,  mastership  of  subjects,  compre 
hensiveness,  logic  and  dialectics.  The  one  who  commands 
such  allies  is  sure  to  overpower  his  antagonist,  however 
animated  and  protracted  may  be  the  struggle.  Few  who 
stand  without  the  arena  of  the  press,  are  aware  how 
much  conscientious  study,  investigation  and  thought  are 
often  devoted  to  its  productions.  Ideas,  conceptions,  rich, 
useful  and  advanced,  lie  entombed,  scarcely  appreciated 
beyond  the  moment  of  their  perusal,  often  misunderstood 
and  not  appreciated,  without  even  a  grateful  reminiscence 
from  those  benefited  by  them.  Often  numerous  sparks  of 
genius  are  thrown  out  and  scattered,  stirring  up,  illumina 
ting  others  ;  each  of  which,  if  carefully  amplified  and  ex 
tended,  could  alone  suffice  to  secure  the  celebrity  of  a  name. 
The  press  is  one  of  the  youngest  powers  and  compo- 


THE   PKESS.  313 

nents  of  society.  Its  significance  extends  more  rapidly 
than  that  of  all  its  predecessors,  and  hence  the  press  has 
its  enemies,  detractors,  and  traducers.  Its  lot  in  this 
respect  is  in  common  with  all  the  other  social  phenom 
ena,  and  with  all  new  inventions,  which  in  the  suc 
cession  of  time  have  appeared,  dispossessed,  or  weakened 
the  powers  firmly  established,  and  for  longer  or  shorter 
periods  ruling  without  contest  over  the  whole,  or  a  part 
of  society.  Every  new  phenomenon,  as  an  idea  or  as 
a  fact,  is  necessarily  in  strife  with  the  past,  which  pro 
claims  the  menacing  new  comer  to  be  mischievous,  de 
structive,  and  subversive.  Often  eminent,  generous,  and 
partly,  at  least,  progressive  minds,  with  difficulty  accept 
a  new  creation,  which  disturbs  their  repose,  their  precon 
ceived  ideas,  and  forces  on  them  a  change  of  judgment, 
a  modification  in  their  appreciation  of  ideas,  in  the  com 
prehension  of  existing  and  acting  agencies.  The  history 
of  human  events,  of  human  culture  and  progress,  is  a  con 
tinual  record  of  such  changes,  evoking  opposition ;  men 
in  the  aggregate,  as  well  as  single  individuals,  reluctantly 
submit  to  changes.  Thus  for  example,  Erasmus  while 
applauding  Luther,  was  still  devoted  to  the  party  which 
•  was  assailed  by  that  audacious  reformer.  The  assaults, 
the  discredit  which  the  champions  of  the  past,  of  its  secret 
proceedings,  of  the  darkness,  sheltering  abuses  and  igno 
rance,  attempt  to  throw  on  the  press  recoil  and  vanish, 
and  even  the  most  inveterate  enemies  recognize  and  sub 
mit  to  its  increasing,  all-embracing,  and  wholesome  action- 
The  press  is  resisted,  outraged,  vilified  or  undervalued  by 
those  only,  who  shrink  from  light,  who  prefer  benumbing 
cold  to  the  intellectual  warmth  which  daily  expanded  by 
the  press.  Her  power  grows  in  proportion  to  the  difficulties 
and  impediments  thrown  in  her  way.  Militant  against 
ibuses,  often  against  the  shrivelling  and  rotten  past,  the 
14 


314  AMERICA    AND    EUKOPE. 

true  condition  of  the  press  is  to  be  the  beacon  for  the 
present,  the  harbinger  of  the  future.  She  becomes  d;  ily 
more  and  more  the  compass,  as  well  as  the  expression  of 
the  moral  tone  of  society,  and  is  so  even  in  the  apprecia 
tion  of  her  enemies,  of  tyrants,  absolutists,  consphers 
against  justice,  reason  and  progress  5  all  of  whom  Late 
but  bow  to  her,  and  according  to  the  old  saying,  odit  dum 
metuit.  Thus  her  supremacy  daily  becomes  a  reality ;  md 
shaking  all  other  powers  and  influences,  she  will  s)on 
stand  paramount  to  all,  crushing  out  her  most  fierce  an 
tagonists. 

This  formidable  lever  and  social  ferment  become;-  of 
beneficial  or  evil  boding,  according  as  it  is  wielded  by  ]  ure 
or  impure  minds.  The  press  is  like  a  two-edged  sword, 
cutting  out  abuses,  or  inflicting  poisonous  wounds.  Like 
almost  every  thing  in  tl^a  mental  and  in  the  material 
world,  the  press  has  thus  a  twofold  character,  and  os 
cillates  between  good  and  evil.  It  can  therefore  have 
and  often  has  a  demoniac,  degrading  or  destructive  in 
fluence.  But  publicity  and  freedom  carry  within  them 
selves  a  cure,  and  in  normal  conditions  of  society,  when 
violence  and  reckless  passions  do  not  darken  the  minds,  do 
not  pervert  public  opinion,  when  the  press  stands  face  to 
face  with  free  communities,  the  bad  and  impure  one  will 
be  shortlived,  will  find  no  support,  and  die  in  its  own 
mjre. 

America  is  at  present  the  only  country  where  the  press 
now  exists  in  partially  normal  conditions,  where  it  is  a 
truly  social  and  popular  institution.  In  Europe  the  press 
is  not  a  necessity  of  life  for  the  great  masses ;  it  does  not 
reach  them.  The  press  is  fettered  by  the  government — 
or  deliberately  fetters  itself,  being  devoted  to  the  interest 
of  a  certain  class,  and  embracing  the  real  interests  of  the 
people  only  in  generalities.  Switzerland,  Belgium,  IIol- 


THE  PRESS.  315 

land,  Piedmont,  Norway,  Sweden,  scarcely  constitute  ex 
ceptions  to  this  general  rule.  These  countries  enjoy  a 
liberty  of  the  press  such  as  is  not  conceded  to  the  other 
continental  nations ;  larger  than  in  Prussia,  Saxony,  and 
other  German  states.  They  make  great  improvements 
likewise  in  their  common  schools,  thus  advancing  the  ed 
ucation  of  the  genuine  people.  Cheering  as  is  such  a 
progress,  it  does  not  however  influence  directly  the  great 
bulk  of  the  masses  on  the  continent.  The  progress  and  im 
provement  effected  in  those  smaller  states,  may  be  compared 
to  one  accomplished  on  the  extremities,  when  at  the  same 
time  the  trunk  is  itself  not  affected  thereby.  This  trunk 
is  formed  by  the  populations  of  France  and  Germany,  add 
ing  to  it  Spain,  Portugal,  Italy,  and  the  Austrian  pos 
sessions.  Exclusive  of  Russia  and  of  Turkey,  the  conti 
nental  population  of  Europe  amounts  to  more  than  one 
hundred  and  sixty  millions.  Scarcely  one  fifth  of  this 
number  enjoys  a  more  or  less  free  press,  and  still  smaller  is 
the  proportion  of  the  continental  population  which  consid 
ers  a  free  press  as  a  vital  necessity  of  existence.  A  gen 
uine,  free  and  independent  press  must  have  to  deal  with  a 
free  and  enlightened  people.  To  that  the  press  is  to  look 
for  intellectual  and  material  appreciation  and  support. 
There  must  be  a  reciprocal  action  between  the  people  and 
the  press.  One  of  the  principal  material  conditions  of 
the  existence  and  the  extension  of  the  press  is  cheapness. 
It  must  be  accessible  without  inconvenience  to  the  small 
est  means.  Not  the  specific  quality,  the  conventional 
standing  of  the  readers,  but  the  quantity  of  sober,  labo 
rious  masses  constitutes  the  true  public  and  the  true  value 
of  a  press.  Not  a  lump  of  gold  thrown  by  a  government, 
by  a  class,  or  by  few  individuals  into  the  conscience  of  the 
writer,  constitutes  the  true  prosperity  of  the  press,  but  the 
small  change  flowing  uninterruptedly  over  its  counter. 


316  AMEKICA   AND   EUROPE. 

A  cheap  and  independent  press  is  a  recent  experiment  in 
England,  not  very  likely  to  succeed  at  the  outset,  for  1he 
want  of  people  or  masses  prepared  to  need  it  and  to  sup 
port  it,  as  is  the  case  in  America.  As  for  the  continent 
of  Europe,  above  all  in  France  and  Germany,  a  genu  ne 
popular  cheap  press  cannot  exist,  for  various  reasons  al 
ready  pointed  out. 

The  American  journalist  must  strike  a  cord  vibrat  ng 
freely  and  powerfully  in  the  masses  ;  he  must  carry  av  ay 
his  public ;  he  must  either  find  access  to  the  popn  lar 
niind,  insinuate  himself  honestly  into  it,  or  overpower 
the  public  by  his  superiority.  There  must  exist  a  mortal 
attraction  between  the  two;  the  press  must  inspire,  awake, 
incite,  push  onward  the  mass,  but  it  must  likewise  i  i  a 
certain  manner  harmonize  with  the  moral  and  social  i  en- 
dency  of  the  people,  which^  otherwise  would  abandon  re 
pulsive  advisers.  The  cheapness  of  the  press,  and  the 
large  number  of  readers  give  the  assurance  of  always 
finding  a  public,  and  also  that  even  the  dimmest  si  i  ad- 
owing  and  mark  of  opinion  will  be  uttered,  elucidated 
with  the  utmost  independence.  All  these  reciprocal  ( on- 
ditions  for  the  existence  of  a  press  equal  to  her  mission, 
can  be  found  only  among  intelligent  masses,  among  a  peo 
ple  in  the  full  meaning  of  the  word.  And  such  a  people 
hitherto  exists  nowhere  in  Europe,  or  if  it  exists  it  i,^  in 
such  small  proportions  that  those  data  disappear  in  the 
general  appreciation.  Even  in  England  the  press  has 
been  to  the  most  recent  epoch  a  luxury  not  within  the 
reach,  not  within  the  appetite  of  the  people  at  large ;  not 
an  attraction  for  it.  In  England — as  is  the  case  with  the 
so-called  independent  press  in  some  states  of  the  conti 
nent — almost  the  whole  press  is  in  the  hands  of  cliques, 
using  it  for  certain  direct  purposes.  Thus  it  becomes  the 
organ  of  these  individual  aims  and  schemes,  and  the,  what 


THE    PRESS.  317 

are  called  in  Europe,  better  classes,  forming  almost  exclu 
sively  the  clientage  of  the  press,  are  after  all  commonly 
led  astray.  But  the  independence,  the  vast  number  of 
newspapers,  the  competition,  the  watchfulness  over  each 
other,  the  aggregate  of  various  opinions  re-echoed  in  the 
press,  all  these  combined  conditions  result  in  elucida 
ting  all  questions  from  all  possible  sides,  in  bringing  all 
the  facts  in  their  true  light  to  the  knowledge  of  the  pub 
lic  ;  and  further,  in  facilitating  to  any  one  with  a  little 
assiduity,  an  acquaintance  with  the  state  of  public  opin 
ion  on  general  or  special  objects  and  occurrences.  In 
England  with  the  freedom  of  the  press,  but  without 
a  people  educated  and  prepared  for  its  enjoyment,  not 
possessing  numerous  country  papers,  supported  and  used 
by  the  masses  ;  a  skilful  or  bold  writer,  himself  a  toady 
or  the  tool  of  a  clique,  or  of  a  man,  deludes  or  bewilders 
the  people,  twists  reason,  facts  and  logic  to  serve  his  own 
purposes  or  those  of  his'  employers.  The  schemes  of  these 
men  are  represented  as  truth.  Besides,  the  majority  of 
the  English  press  addresses  itself  to  classes,  but  seldom, 
very  seldom  to  the  people  itself,  as  the  only  national  ele 
ment.  The  English  press  mentions  the  name  of  the  peo 
ple,  to  be  sure,  but  speaks  of  it  only  in  generalities,  not 
in  that  broad  and  direct  sense,  as  is  the  case  in  America. 
AVhole  districts,  communities  and  townships  in  England, 
as  well  as  on  the  continent,  exist  without  having  any 
newspaper;  any  organ  of  publicity.  Therein  England  is 
under  the  influence  of  centralization,  as  are  the  other  Eu 
ropean  states.  Almost  every  township  and  more  populous 
village  in  the  free  States  of  the  Union  has  its  organs, 
whose  circulation  is  independent,  and  does  not  interfere 
with  that  of  those  larger  papers  published  in  the  capitals 
of  States,  or  in  the  larger  cities. 

The  American  does  not  limit  himself  to  reading  one 


318 


AMERICA   AJSTD   EUROPE. 


paper,  to  knowing  only  one  side  of  an  opinion,  or  of  a  ques 
tion,  but  generally  tries  to  acquire  many-sided  informa 
tion.  In  Europe  the  partial  public  reading  the  papers,  is 
mostly  satisfied  with  the  organ  of  its  party ;  listens  to  one 
bell,  and  follows  blindly  its  directions  or  insinuatio  is. 
For  an  American,  rich  and  poor,  the  press  is  the  salt  of 
his  existence  ;  the  European  laboring  man  is  genera  ly 
indifferent  or  wholly  unacquainted  with  this  intellectual 
condiment.  The  American  people  at  large  shows  a  de 
gree  of  mental  fitness,  superior  to  the  immense  major  ty 
of  their  European  kindred,  in  supporting  and  thus  in  se 
curing  the  existence  of  an  independent  press;  and  in  jus 
tice  the  inferiority  of  Europeans  in  that  respect  corres 
ponds  to  the  inferiority  of  their  social  condition  and  insti 
tutions,  to  the  all-withering  influence  of  governments,  of 
whatever  name  and  nature ;  to  the  still  preponderating  li- 
vision  into  higher,  aristocraifeal,  burgher,  and  lower  classes, 
of  which  the  superior  and  directing  classes  are  averse  to 
this  most  nourishing  fruit  of  reason  and  liberty.  The 
genuine  American  people,  the  intelligent,  working  mass3S, 
require  in  the  press  a  strong  mental  food,  and  they  ;  re 
a,ble  to  digest  it.  The  people  likes  an  open,  unhesitating, 
plain  enunciation  of  principles  and  of  appreciation.  It 
demands  from  the  press  an  onward  impulse,  aside  from  the 
discussion  of  daily  occurrences.  If  the  self-styled  better 
classes  in  America,  the  men  of  narrow  minds  and  lar^e 
fortunes,  shrink  occasionally  from  a  press  like  this,  the 
true  people,  the  people  at  large,  support  more  heartily 
that  paper  which  has  the  strongest  and  purest  mettle. 

The  concentration  of  power,  of  intelligence,  of  wealth, 
the  central  action  of  government,  the  gathering  to  the  cen 
tre  of  social  classes,  and  of  interests  general  and  private, 
constitute  the  great  preponderance,  the  paramount  influ 
ence  of  the  European  capitalists  over  the  country  in  polit- 


THE   PEESS.  319 

ical,  social,  conventional,  as  well  as  in  real  interests,  in 
customs,  manners,  and  all  the  innumerable  relations  of  the 
kind.  In  America  the  great  and  most  generally  felt  in 
fluence  of  the  city  of  New  York,  that  commercial  empori 
um  of  the  new  world,  emanates  and  spreads  over  all  the 
Union,  from  the  independent  newspapers  published  in  the 
metropolis.  This  influence  reaches  villages,  and  the  most 
distant  log-houses,  and  penetrates  to  the  minds  and  con 
victions  of  millions,  more  directly  and  more  thoroughly 
than  that  of  any  other  social  or  monetary  power  in 
America. 

Such  a  press — unhappily  for  the  European  masses,  but 
happily  for  their  rulers — such  an  independent  press  does 
not  yet  constitute  the  daily  mental  nourishment  of  the 
European  millions.  Europe  being  in  a  state  of  continued 
open  or  subdued  ebullitions,  the  press  often  loses  its  ener 
gy  and  elasticity,  in  attempts  to  conciliate  antagonisms,  or 
to  compromise  principles.  This  kind  of  press  is  the  only 
one  acceptable  to  liberal  European  governments,  but  such 
a  press  is  always  in  a  false  position,  is  always  subdued  in 
its  tone,  and  lame  in  its  movements.  It  is  even  repulsive 
to  the  people  at  large,  which  by  the  agency  of  such  a 
press  does  not  acquire  the  taste  for  public  organs,  and 
is  not  interested  in  their  prosperity.  Even  the  most  free 
European  countries,  as  Sweden,  Norway,  Piedmont,  Hol 
land,  Belgium,  Switzerland,  have  not  reached  the  elevated 
degree  of  culture  that  causes  their  people  to  consider  the 
press,  the  newspaper,  as  indispensable  to  their  daily  exist 
ence.  As  observed  already,  local  papers  in  the  villages  and 
boroughs  of  England,  France  and  Germany  do  not  exist, 
and  those  received  from  other  quarters  are  a  luxury  re 
served  for  the  few,  but  without  any  attraction  for  the 
many.  Nowadays,  when  new  communes  are  established 
on  the  virgin  soil  of  America,  the  printing  office  of  a  local 


320  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

paper  rises  as  soon,  or  even  sooner,  than  the  school-hout  e. 
The  settler,  that  pioneer  of  civilization  and  culture,  after 
his  daily  hard  struggles  and  labor,  looks  to  the  press,  to 
the  public  organ,  for  relish,  for  encouragement,  and  lor 
cheering  consolation. 

The  indestructible  vitality  of  the  press  is  evidenc  3d 
in  Europe  by  the  fact,  that  with  all  the  restrictions,  im 
pediments,  thrown  in  her  way,  notwithstanding  the  bit 
ter  and  unrelenting  hostility  with  which  she  is  surroundc  d, 
she  nowadays  can  no  more  be  destroyed,  as  a  social  ab- 
stract  principle,  or  as  a  positive  fact,  than  could  be  i.e- 
stroyed  the  creative  power  of  nature.  Even  the  fiercest  des 
pots  are  obliged  to  keep  her  alive,  often  to  appeal  to  her; 
they  chain  and  muzzle,  but  cannot  wholl}'  suppress  a  id 
strangle  her.  It  is  beyond  human  power  to  arrest  its  actic  n, 
and  the  most  powerful  in  Europe,  Czars,  Popes,  Empero  -s, 
Kings,  Aristocrats,  and  alkdther  social  compounds  or  i  n- 
purities,  dread  her  attacks.  No  one  is  so  high  as  not  to 
be  sensitive  to  even  her  feeblest  pulsations.  Only  these 
who  are  wholly  insignificant  mentally  and  socially,  affect 
to  mask  their  dulness  by  a  so-called  contempt  for  the  ver 
dicts  of  an  independent  press. 

The  American  press — excepting  that  portion  of  it 
which  is  polluted  by  slavery,  and  that  other  portion  which 
arrays  itself  wilfully  in  its  defence,  and  fights  its  battles 
in  the  area  of  freedom, — the  American  press,  in  its  pro 
ductivity  and  circulation  unrivalled  by  European  coun 
tries,  reflects  all  the  degrees  of  social  and  mental  progress 
spread  and  elaborated  by  the  population.  Some  of  its 
branches  and  shoots  may  be  less  energetic,  less  keen  and 
clear-sighted,  command  a  less  extensive  information, 
knowledge  and  scholarship ;  but  by  far  the  immense  ma 
jority  exercise  a  wholesome  influence.  By  far  the  immense 


THE   PRESS.  321 

majority  answer  to  the  mission  of  public  organs  in  the 
wider  or  circumscribed  circles  of  their  activity.  In  gene 
ral,  these  organs  and  flambeaus,  lighting  the  march  of  the 
people,  according  to  their  individual  comprehensions,  make 
efforts  to  point  out  the  right  way,  to  direct  towards  a 
higher  moral  and  social  goal.  Considering  the  number  of 
papers  published  in  the  United  States,  considering  the 
absence  of  any  restraint,  the  various  countless  interests, 
great  and  small,  passions,  excitements,  irascibilities,  and 
wrauglings ;  the  American  press  nevertheless  redeems  and 
dispels  all  the  slanders  directed  by  retrograde  spirits 
against  the,  according  to  their  assertions,  irremediable 
abuse,  licentiousness,  and  immorality  of  a  press  wholly 
free,  and  established  for  the  exclusive  use  of  the  masses. 
In  the  position  reached  to-day  in  America  and  in  Europe, 
most  of  the  papers  of  this  country,  in  truthfulness,  purity 
of  convictions  and  honesty,  can  fairly  compare  with  their 
European  kindred,  to  whom,  by  the  combination  of  vari 
ous  governmental  and  social  relations,  scrupulous  honesty, 
independence  and  truthfulness  become  often  almost  im 
possible. 

The  ulterior  destiny  and  significance  of  a  free,  enlight 
ened  and  independent  press,  is  intimately  interwoven  with 
the  progressive  moralization  of  society.  The  press  is  to 
become  the  paramount  umpire,  to  prevent  civil  and  un 
just  foreign  wars,  pacify  irritations,  suppress  abuses,  make 
them  recede,  and  to  a  great  extent  disappear  before  the 
ever-pouring  light  of  publicity.  No  question  can  be  so 
complicated  and  explosive  as  not  to  become  disentangled, 
mollified,  in  the  free  unprejudiced  handling  of  it  by  the 
press.  The  envenomed  question  of  slavery  never  could 
have  reached  such  a  degree  of  unscrupulousness,  if  the 
South  had  possessed  a  free  press,  if  every  opinion  disa- 
14* 


322  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

greeing  with  slavery  had  not  been  suppressed,  menaced 
with  murder,  by  the  violent  and  lawless  pro-slavery  parti 
sans.  The  time  may  come,  when  society  in  both  hemis 
pheres,  and  even  in  its  actual  phases  of  development, 
will  accept  the  press  as  the  sole  omnipotent  authority. 


THE   PULPIT.  323 


CHAPTEE  X. 

THE     PULPIT. 

RELIGIOUS  liberty,  the  absolute  separation  of  Church  and 
State,  has  become  realized  in  America  far  beyond  the  con 
ception,  and  still  more  the  execution,  of  a  similar  separa 
tion  in  any  European  Protestant  country.  This  separation, 
and  the  political  equality  of  all  creeds,  constitute  one  of 
the  cardinal  and  salient  traits  of  the  American  community. 
The  equality  of  creeds  in  principle  and  in  application,  is 
not  limited  to  the  various  Christian  sects  and  confessions 
swarming  over  the  Union ;  but  partially  in  the  sentiments 
of  the  people,  as  well  in  the  spirit  as  the  letter  of  the  po 
litical  institutions,  it  extends  to  other  creeds.  The  Jewish 
confession,  as  in  England  and  several  European  countries, 
does  not  disable  its  members  from  the  enjoyment  of  any 
political  rights ;  and  there  is  no  word  in  the  constitution, 
by  which  any  other  worship,  even  a  heathen  one,  could  be 
legally  proscribed.  Not  in  indifference  to  religious  con 
victions  originated  this  religious  liberty,  but  in  the  finally 
well  understood  and  well  applied  principle  of  the  freedom 
and  equality  of  moral  as  well  as  of  political  rights. 

Religious  freedom  and  independence  were  almost  para 
mount  to  all  other  aims  and  objects,  which  were  had  in 
view  by  the  primitve  emigrants  to  America.  Puritans, 


324:  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

Huguenots,  Irish  Presbyterians,  Quakers,  came  here  witi 
the  purpose  of  establishing  and  enjoying  the  freedom  cf 
religious  convictions.  Thus  this  principle  from  the  stait 
was  one  of  the  cardinal  germs  and  principal  coraer-stoncs 
of  American  civility.  Intolerance,  persecution,  stainei , 
however,  even  here  the  first  pages  of  the  Puritanic  estal  - 
lislmient.  It  was  the  momentary  victory  of  the  dare 
spirit  of  the  past,  overpowering  at  times  the  bright  corus 
cations  of  truth.  But  bigoted  ferocity  finally  yielded  be 
fore  the  light  of  reason,  before  the  vital  and  all-absorbin  » 
force  of  principles. 

With  the  freedom  of  conscience,  the  pulpit  constitute  1 
in  the  American  social  birth  and  growth,  one  of  the  most 
active  and  powerful  moral  and  social  elements  and  ager  - 
cies.  In  the  formation  of  nations  and  states,  the  germs,  cf 
whatever  character  and  nature,  that  are  once  laid  down  a  t 
the  foundations  of  society,  an^orming  the  sources  of  its  fur 
ther  development,  preserve  their  vitality.  They  penetrate 
deeply,  act  and  influence  powerfully,  the  moral  or  the  po 
litical  unfolding  and  march.  History  is  full  of  evidences 
of  such  vitality.  The  pulpit,  therefore,  which  in  the 
American  primitive  formation  was  such  a  cardinal  and 
efficient  element,  of  the  same  character  as  was  the  author 
ity  of  a  legislator,  of  a  hero,  a  king,  a  caste,  in  the  forma 
tion  of  ancient  society  or  of  European  nations  ;  the  pulpit 
preserves  here  naturally  and  logically  its  uninterrupted 
action  and  influence  upon  the  religious  and  the  social  man, 
both  as  a  member  of  a  religious  communion,  and  as  a  citizen. 

Religious  influence  has  always  made  itself  sensible, 
and  mostly  with  great  eifect,  in  human  •  affairs.  It  is  a 
predisposition,  a  natural  bent  of  the  human  mind,  of  hu 
man  feelings.  It  is  a  positive,  irrefutable,  historical  as 
well  as  psychological  fact.  Hierophants,  high-priests, 
augurs,  Brahmas,  and  uncounted  other  names,  repre- 


THE   PULPIT.  325 

senting  this  religious  element  in  the  formation  of  societies, 
evidence — it  may  be  even  for  our  times — its  still  unavoid 
able  necessity.  Any  one,  even  half-way  familiar  with  his 
tory,  knows  to  what  extent  the  three  greatest  historical 
nations  of  antiquity,  Persians,  Greeks,  and  Romans,  have 
been  religious ;  and  what  a  preponderating  influence  wor 
ship  exercised  in  their  political,  domestic,  and  national  life. 
Among  the  principal  reasons  of  the  condemnation  of  Soc 
rates  by  the  Athenians,  was  his  real  or  supposed  disregard 
of  gods.  Even  St.  Simonism,  this  most  powerful  new 
social  conception  for  the  remodelling  of  society,  and  whose 
axioms  and  ideas,  thrown  into  European  culture,  fer 
ment  therein  more  vigorously  than  those  of  other  socialist 
doctrines,  most  of  which  have  been  engrafted  on  St.  Si- 
monism,  this  St.  Simonism,  albeit  accused  of  materialism, 
asserts  the  religious  idea  to  be  the  most  elastic  and  dura 
ble  social  cement.  The  American  populations,  the  de 
scendants  of  the  various  primitive  settlers,  as  well  as  the 
more  recent  immigrants,  all  are  still  eminently  and  in  ma 
jorities,  under  the  influence  of  religious  ideas  and  feelings. 
In  the  American  community,  the  pulpit  is  an  undeniable 
social  element ;  it  has  grown  with  the  community,  it  is  a 
part  of  its  free  life,  more  so  than  in  any  European  nation ; 
it  has  participated  in  all  the  social  or  rather  political  trans 
mutations  and  transitions.  As  the  Church  is  wholly  sepa 
rated  from  any  interference  of  the  State,  and  its  whole 
administrative  organization  is  in  the  hands  of  the  people, 
the  pulpit  belongs  to  the  primordial  manifestations  of  the 
self-government  of  the  people.  In  the  enjoyment  of  the 
plenitude  of  its  right,  the  people  by  its  choice,  or  by  its 
deliberate,  self-decided  submission  to  the  influence  of  the 
pulpit,  authorizes  its  influence,  authorizes  its  tendency  to 
harmonize  the  inward  with  the  outward  man,  to  bring  into 
union  the  worldly  political  acts  and  laws  with  the  inward 


326  AMEEIOA   AND   EUKOPE. 

conceptions  and  aspirations  of  men's  better  moral  na 
ture. 

Whatever  may  be  the  individual  opinions  or  compre 
hensions  about  the  value  and  the  interference  of  the  pu  pit 
in  human  affairs,  the  American  pulpit  is  firmly  rooted 
in  the  public  life,  is  one  of  its  freely,  publicly,  and  irde- 
pendently  operating  vital  agencies  ;  and  for  the  most  p.trt, 
it  is  a  civilizing  and  moralizing  one.  The  American  pul 
pit,  on  the  average,  remains  not  behind,  but  progresses 
with  the  epoch.  It  throws  often  new  and  fresh  light  on 
questions  of  the  moment,  as  well  as  on  those  penetrating 
deeply  and  lastingly  into  the  destiny  and  development  of 
the  community.  It  seizes  and  considers  often  such  ques 
tions  boldly,  going  to  the  bottom,  pointing  to  the  substa  tice 
of  their  signification,  showing  their  immediate  bearing  on 
the  conscience  and  on  the  religious  feelings  of  man.  The 
open  intervention  of  the  p^tpit  in  problems  concerning  the 
social,  internal  questions  of  a  country,  questions  on  wl  ich 
depends  the  peace,  the  moral  progress  of  men — as  bad  ;md 
immoral  laws  form  immoral  men  ; — this  intervention,  rooted 
from  the  start  in  the  American  social  formation,  is  at  least 
as  logical  and  natural  as  the  generally  commended  inter 
vention  of  the  clergy  and  of  the  pulpit  against  a  foreign  in 
vader  or  enemy.  And  often  the  danger  for  the  moral 
man — this  principal  object  of  the  solicitude  of  the  pulpit, — 
is  more  imminent  and  destructive  from  foul  internal  le 
gislation,  or  from  a  defective  civil  or  political  condition, 
than  from  external  invasion. 

In  an  absolutely  free  country,  as  is  America,  all  the  im- 
inan  potencies  are  called  to  act,  and,  binding  with  each  other, 
to  contribute  to  the  progress  of  the  individual,  of  the  com 
munity  ;  the  pulpit,  as  an  open  manifestation  of  such  a  po 
tency,  as  the  expression  of  higher  aspirations,  has  a  duty  and 
a  right  to  perform,  in  uttering  its  opinion  or  its  advice,  on 


THE   PULPIT.  327 

concerns  where  the  social  dignity  and  worth  of  man  and  of 
communities  are  at  stake.  For  a  sincerely  religious  man, 
enjoying  his  full  and  independent  powers  and  activity,  the 
supreme  or  divine  precepts  believed  by  him,  ought  to  direct 
his  public  and  civil  actions  towards  the  goal  of  higher  mo 
rality  ;  and  the  pulpit,  as  constituted  and  developed  in  the 
American  social  relations,  and  in  the  spirit  of  truly  under 
stood  Christianity,  is  or  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most 
watchful  sentinels  and  finger-posts  towards  social  ameliora 
tion.  But  such  a  character  and  such  an  influence  can  only 
be  recognized  and  used  by  the  pulpit  in  a  social  state,  and 
in  a  condition  of  perfect  liberty  and  equality,  where  violent 
passions,  egotism,  individual  interest,  do  not  pervert  and 
corrupt  minds  and  convictions  ;  where  society  exists  and 
moves  in  normal  conditions,  or  at  least  approaches  near 
them.  These  conditions,  for  various  reasons,  do  not  exist 
in  the  political  and  social  state  of  Europe  :  many  and  mul 
tifold  are  the  sources  of  this  dissimilarity,  and  paramount 
to  them  all  is  the  union  or  the  mutual  independence  es 
tablished  for  so  many  centuries  between  the  churches  of 
various  denominations  and  the  State,  nearly  in  all  coun* 
tries  and  nations,  a  relation  becoming  thus  inborn,  inherent, 
chronic  to  European  social  organization.  Social  and  po 
litical  revolutions  bear  therefore  in  Europe  equally  on 
Churches  as  on  States  or  governments  to  whom  the 
Churches  are  wedded.  When  restorations  of  ancient  abu 
ses — called  the  ancient  order  of  things — take  place,  among 
the  restored  objects  counts  always  the  power  of  the  Church, 
be  it  a  Komanist  or  a  Protestant,  and  the  one  generally  not 
less  obnoxious  than  the  other.  The  pulpit  in  Europe  can 
not  acquire  this  free,  independent  expansion,  and  the  civil 
significance  that  is  possessed  by  the  American  pulpit,  born 
and  nursed  among  new  events  and  conjunctures.  Nearly 
all  the  European  churches,  confessions,  pulpits,  and  confes- 


328  AMERICA   AND  EUROPE. 

sionals,  in  Protestant  or  Romanist  nations,  are  interested 
in  the  worldly  powers,  side  for  or  against  the  special  gov- 
'''ernments,  according  to  their  special  relations  with  them, 
be  those  governments  absolute,  constitutional,  or  repub 
lican.  So  it  is  in  France,  as  in  England,  in  Germany, 
Prussia,  Holland,  as  in  Austria,  in  autocratic  Hussia,  or 
in  of  late  democratized  Switzerland,  where,  as  for  example 
in  the  Cantons  of  Geneva,  Vaud,  Neufchatel,  and  others, 
numbers  of  the  protestant  clergy  took  a  stand  against  the 
new  governments,  established  in  1848  by  the  people  on  ;he 
ruins  of  the  ancient  privileged  burghers,  patricians,  end 
various  puny  local  oligarchies.  The  American  cleigy 
and  pulpit  is  not  linked  with  a  past,  as  no  such  one  ox- 
ists  for  American  society,  or  at  least  not  one  inimical  to 
progress.  The  American  clergy  or  pulpit  has  not  linlied 
its  destinies  with  castes,  governments,  and  power-holde  rs, 
nor  has  it  ever  been — in  th^Free  States — their  servant  or 
accomplice.  It  has  nothing  to  dread  from  new  ideas,  or 
even  from  new  social  transformations.  It  can  therefore 
freely  discuss  the  principles  on  which  society  reposes, 
without  falling  under  the  reproach  of  submissiveness,  ego 
tism,  or  servility. 

The  average  of  those  devoted  to  the  pulpit  in  various 
confessions,  represents  comparatively  the  greatest  mass  of 
learning,  scholarship,  and  diversified  information  in  Amer 
ica.  The  Unitarian  confession,  although  the  smallest  nu 
merically,  possesses  the  most  elastic  and  all-embracing 
minds.  The  various  American  theologians,  if  generally 
not  equal  to  the  great  giants  of  theological  dogmatism  and 
criticism  in  Germany,  can  nevertheless  compare  with 
them  favorably ;  and,  for  the  variety  of  their  literary  at 
tainments  and  productivity,  they  surpass  the  mass  of  the 
clergy  of  any  European  country.  They  are  studious,  la 
borious  ;  and  depending  for  support  upon  their  parishion- 


THE   PULPIT.  329 

ers,  they  are  their  pride,  and  must  endeavor  to  maintain 
their  conspicuous  mental  standing,  in  order  to  answer  their 
expectations,  or  else  a  successful  competitor  may  conciliate 
the  favor  of  the  religious  congregation.  Living  and  de 
pending  on  a  community  among  which  is  spread  a  certain 
degree  of  general  culture,  the  pastor  naturally  attempts 
not  only  not  to  remain  behind  its  average,  but  to  preserve 
a  certain  superiority  in  harmony  with  his  leading  position. 
Most  of  these  incentives  do  not  exist  in  Europe,  where  the 
favor  of  government  is  to  be  courted,  or  where  the  commu 
nities  in  the  country  are  generally  less  advanced  and  less 
interested  in  the  various — even  in  what  is  called  superfi 
cial  or  encyclopedical — activity  and  manifestations  of  the 
human  mind.  The  political  development  and  progressive 
amelioration  of  society  in  its  legislative  concerns,  is  of 
equal  interest  for  the  American  clergyman,  with  theologi 
cal,  dogmatical  niceties  ;  he  observes  them  with  care  and 
devotion.  He  does  not  wish  to  hinder  and  encumber  the 
social  progress,  but  to  preserve  to  it — what  he  believes  to 
be — a  Christian  character. 

Men  originally  prepared  for  the  pulpit,  after  having 
abandoned  the  theological  vocation,  are  found  in  various 
mental,  literary,  and  political  functions,  among  the  most 
eminent  on  the  American  horizon ;  as,  for  example,  the 
highly  accomplished  scholar,  the  elegant  and  truly  Amer 
ican  orator,  and  at  times  the  sagacious  statesman,  Edward 
Everett,  Bancroft,  the  historian,  Sparks,  the  indefatigable 
compilator  and  writer  of  American  historical  documents, 
and  independent  philosophical  minds,  as  that  of  Ripley, 
of  Emerson,  of  James,  the  brilliant  rhetorician,  and  many 
others.  A  transition  from  theological  studies,  from  the 
pulpit  to  other  worldly  pursuits,  to  political  life,  is  easier 
generally  in  America  than  it  is  anywhere  in  Europe. 

The  Romanist  clergy,  numerous  in  America,  and  in 


330  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

its  immense  majority  composed  of  Irish,  does  not  const  - 
tute  in  the  average,  an  aggregate  of  superiority  in  variety 
of  information  and  mental  culture,  as  is  the  case  with  other 
confessions.  Some  prominent  individuals  scattered  amon^ 
the  mass  do  not  change  the  general  character  of  iuferiorit"1'. 
Many  are  the  reasons  which  account  for  this.  Romanism, 
and  principally  its  clergy,  all  over  Europe,  is  inferior  iu. 
all  the  branches  of  human  learning  and  science  to  the  ag 
gregate  of  various  learning,  mastered  by  its  philosophical 
or  doctrinal  opponents,  and  generally  possessed  by  tl  e 
laity.  For  the  last  few  centuries,  and  above  all,  as  no»v 
reduced  to  the  defensive,  clerical  Romanism  has  lost  vi 
tality,  productivity,  expansion  and  elasticity.  Before  tl  e 
Reformation  its  power  was  rarely  if  at  all  questioned,  it 
ruled  nearly  paramount  in  the  domain  of  mind.  It  was 
then  for  the  most  part  friendly  to  sciences  and  scholar 
ship,  as  the  danger  from  knowledge  was  not  thus  imminent 
and  immediate.  Romanism  partly  preserved  this  elasti 
city  even  in  the  first  ten  years  of  the  Reformation,  then  not 
yet  conscious  of  its  future  civilizing  power.  Thus,  for  ex 
ample,  the  system  of  Copernicus  was  originally  better 
treated  by  Catholics  than  by  Protestants.  The  inquisition, 
the  Popes,  began  to  condemn  it  when  they  found  that  this 
would  suit  their  policy,  when  they  saw  the  danger  of  any 
innovation.  About  the  time  when  Galileo  was  shut  up 
in  dungeons — but  uttered  his  celebrated  e  pur1  si  muove 
— an  Augustine  monk,  Didacus  Stunica,  in  Spain,  writing 
commentaries  on  the  book  of  Job.  declared  the  Copernicau 
system  to  be  the  only  true  one.  In  the  15th,  16th,  and 
even  in  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century,  there  was 
hardly,  besides  the  court  of  Rome,  any  other  spot  in  the 
world  that  could  exhibit  such  manifold  efforts  in  literature 
and  art,  so  much  racy  intellectual  impulse  and  enjoyment, 
and  an  existence  so  much  engaging  the  various  powers  of 


THE   PULPIT.  331 

the  mind.  Now,  neither  the  court  of  Rome  nor  its  cleri 
cal  legions  extended  over  Europe,  are  in  the  first  ranks 
of  the  intellectual,  scientific,  and  learned  world.  The  Amer 
ican  catholic  clergy  shares  the  common  fate,  but  in  a  larger 
degree,  and  is  inferior  to  its  European  confraternity. 
The  greatest  number  of  them  seem  rather  indifferent  to 
enlightening  themselves,  or  to  lessening  the  ignorance  of 
their  rude  flocks.  It  seems  to  be  of  small  or  secondary 
interest  to  them  to  have  enlightened  congregations.  They 
aim  rather  at  preserving  and  nursing  the  mental  stupidity 
for  the  greater  glory  of  Rome  and  for  their  ow^  security. 
Some  do  this  it  may  be  said  innocently,  not  aware  of  a 
better  aim,  but  the  hierarchy  has  fixed  and  well  defined 
purposes.  The  hierarchy  wants  among  its  ordained  offi 
cials,  as  well  as  among  the  flocks,  submission,  willing  and 
pliant  tools,  and  not  self-conscious  individualities.  The 
means  of  education  for  the  Romanist  clergy  are  inferior  in 
every  respect  to  the  like  establishments  in  Europe.  The 
very  insufficient  diocesan  seminaries  are  generally  directed 
by  Jesuits.  The  history  of  this  militant,  aggressive  order, 
so  unrelenting  in  the  prosecution  of  power,  shows  that  one 
of  the  cardinal  objects  in  education  is  to  prepare  and  drill 
the  mind  to  an  absolute  dependence,  to  crush  out,  extin 
guish  any  spark  of  self-judgment,  not  only  in  the  laity  but 
likewise  in  the  clergy,  and  above  all  in  the  secular  clergy. 
In  this  spirit  is  directed  the  public  education  in  the  Jesuit 
ical  establishments,  as  well  as  in  the  seminaries.  The 
pupils  of  each  must  be  so  shaped  out  as  to  remain  for  life 
unshaken  in  their  faith  in  the  supremacy  of  the  fathers. 
A  secular  priest,  who  after  all  is  to  be  let  loose  into  the 
world,  entering  a  community  breathing  self-consciousness, 
self-reliance,  where  the  power  of  reason  is  recognized  as 
paramount;  such  a  priest,  thrown  among  such  tempta 
tions,  must  be  penetrated  through  and  through  with  the 


332  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

conviction  of  his  inferiority,  that  he  must  always  seek  a  id 
cling  to  the  decision  of  his  tutors  and  masters,  that  lie 
must  remain  for  ever  a  tool,  unaware  of  his  individually. 
He  must  never  be  able  to  appeal  to  his  own  reason, 
judgment,  and  mental  initiative.  So  his  general  inforn  a- 
tion  is  limited,  mangled,  defective.  He  is  inspired  aid 
wholly  schooled  to  be  distrustful  of  the  light  of  his  o^vn 
reason,  as  well  as  to  suspect  learning  and  knowledge  when 
illuminated  or  vivified  by  it.  He,  as  well  as  the  flocks  con 
fided  to  his  care,  must  never  discover  that  reason  and  mi  ad 
alone  constitute  the  difference  between  man  and  brute; 
that  if  there  is  any  truth  in  the  supposed  or  admitted 
likeness  between  the  Creator  and  the  creature,  this  likeness 
is  absolutely  spiritual,  based  on  the  faculty  of  reason. 
The  priest  and  the  flock  must  never  discover  that  reason 
and  mind  are  the  highest  gifts,  and  that  faith  at  the  bust 
is  only  the  corollary  of  a  mhid  actuated  by  reason. 

The  Romanist  clergy  is  unrelenting  in  its  activity — 
rather  a  mechanical  one — under  the  direction  of  the  hier 
archy,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Jesuits.  Some  halo  jf 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  surrounded  and  embellished 
years  ago  the  labors  and  life  of  the  secular  Komanist  cler 
gy.  They  shared  the  poverty,  the  gross  abjectness,  of 
their  parishioners,  and  still,  in  many  instances,  their  mate 
rial  destitution  equals  the  mental  one.  With  the  material 
progress  and  conditional  prosperity  of  the  Romanist  pop 
ulation,  a  sensible  amelioration  has  taken  place  in  t lie- 
worldly  situation  of  its  clergy  5  but  the  mental  emancipa 
tion  of  flocks  and  shepherds  is  for  a  long  time  out  of  the 
question. 


THE  AMERICAN  MIND.  333 


CHAPTEK  XI. 

THE     AMERICAN     MIND. 

THE  genuine  American  mind  is  the  sum  of  various  com 
ponents,  intuitive  as  well  as  objective  in  their  source,  and 
in  their  operations.  Various  inward  and  external  combi 
nations,  events  and  conjunctures,  have  added  to  the  En 
glish  substratum,  new,  diversified,  spiritual,  and  so  to  say, 
corporeal  terms  and  substances.  In  its  present  stage  of 
development,  this  alloy  reveals  an  inward  struggle  between 
the  substratum  and  the  affluxes.  This  progress  of  effer 
vescence,  and  the  consequent  internal  and  external  phe 
nomena,  taken  in  general  outlines,  constitute  the  dissimi 
larity  of  the  American  mind,  from  the  special  char 
acteristics  of  the  mind  of  each  European  nation.  The 
contending  forces  in  the  American  mind  manifest  them 
selves  in  various  ways,  and  in  efforts  for  asserting  individ 
uality,  originality,  and  an  independent  mode  of  perception. 
Nevertheless  the  substratum  maintains  its  ground,  yielding 
slowly  and  stubbornly  to  the  pressure  of  the  elements 
which  accumulate  upon  it.  In  the  oscillations  produced 
by  this  struggle,  originate  those  contrasts  which  mark 
more  or  less  distinctly  the  intellectual  manifestations. 

The  American  mind  tends  pre-eminently  towards  the 
objective,  at  times  however  being  given  to  the  subjective, 
even  to  abstract  speculation.  It  is  singularly  impulsive 
and  receptive,  seizes  eagerly  upon  the  most  antagonistic 


334  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

objects,  and  embraces  them  with  considerable  elasticity. 
Expansive,  and  at  times  daring,  it  is  less  disciplined  ;ind 
subdued  by  routine,  than  is  the  case  with  the  English  mind. 
Hitherto  the  American  mind  has  not  reached  the  elevated 
stand-point  of  an  absolute,  intuitive  individuality.  Stim 
ulated  by  the  fulness  and  vigor  of  intuitiveness,  but  o  :>en 
to  the  breathing  influences  of  outward  nature,  to  the  ever 
freshly  pouring  combinations  of  events,  the  mind  asce  ids 
slowly,  step  by  step,  into  the  expanding  region  of  normal 
self-consciousness.  'It  is  inquisitive,  analytic,  dismemler- 
ing,  and  still  eager  often  to  discover,  to  comprehend  a 
general  law,  to  accept  general  formulas  and  axioms,  and  to 
submit  to  them.  It  grapples  willingly  with  difficulties,  )ut 
is  not  however  always  enduring  or  patient  enough  to 
overcome  and  subdue  them,  above  all  when  the  difficulties 
are  founded  in  merely  abstract,  speculative  combinations. 
Evoked  to  self-conscious  r«{?tivity,  the  American  mind  vas 
'"thrown  at  the  start  into  a  stern  and  rough  medium,  find 
cut  off  from  the  motherland ;  it  was  obliged  to  direct  all 
its  intensity  to  struggles  writh  nature,  with  destructive  mat 
ter,  was  forced  to  choose  and  decide  swiftly,  to  act,  and 
not  to  remain  in  musing  contemplation. 

Immediate  practical  results  are  more  attractive  for  the 
American  mind,  although  not  exclusively,  than  the  charms 
of  imagination.  In  its  intellectual,  positive  turn,  it  yields 
easily  to  the  pressure  of  outward  events  and  combinations. 
Intellect  finds  more  food,  more  stimulus,  in  externalities, 
and  therefore  it  overpowers  the  spirit,  the  imagination,  as 
well  as  the  tendency  to  abstract,  interior  contemplation. 
Of  great  mobility,  expansive  but  not  deep,  the  American 
mind  as  yet  seems  unable  to  seize  thoroughly  and  pene 
trate  deeply  into  the  infinity  of  intuitive  ideas,  engrossed 
as  it  has  hitherto  been  by  sensations.  The  social  condi 
tion,  the  primitive  state  of  nature,  opening  uninterruptedly 


THE   AMERICAN   MIND. 

her  wider  and  wider  circles  before  the  Americans,  chal 
lenge  and  attract  the  intellectual  powers,  carry  away  the 
activity  into  one  general,  explorative,  mechanical,  com 
mercial  current.  But  then  even,  a  certain  inborn  elastici 
ty  redeems  and  saves  it  from  utter  degradation.  And  so, 
notwithstanding  this  seemingly  all-absorbing-  commercial 
propensity,  the  mind  of  the  people  ut  large  does  not  be 
come  eaten  up  or  narrowed,  as  is  the  case,  for  example, 
with  the  immense  majority  of  the  various  commercial 
classes  in  Europe.  The  so-called  petty  shopkeeper  spirit 
does  not  prevail  in  America  to  the  same  extent  as  in  most 
of  the  European  parent  countries. 

Excitability,  omnipotent  in  the  American  character, 
scarcely  affects  the  activity  of  mind.  The  keen  internal 
perception  of  the  object  strongly  resists  excitability  or 
nervousness,  and  dispels  the  mist  that  has  been  aroused. 
If  the  Americans  do  not  resist  but  yield  to  the  current  of 
excitement,  it  is  more  from  want  of  independence,  than 
from  want  of  a  sound,  internal,  mental  judgment.  Com 
paratively  rapid  and  comprehensive  in  assimilation  and 
combination — far  more  so  than  the  English — the  Ameri 
can  mind  seems  to  be  indifferent  to  method ;  at  the  same 
time,  by  a  striking  contrast,  the  intellect  is  disciplined  by 
it  in  most  of  its  mechanical  dealings  with  the  realm  of 
matter.  Though  not  absolutely  rigorous  in  its  operations, 
the  American  mind  is  earnest,  giving  fixity  and  ballast, 
and  forming  a  counterpoise  to  the  often  febrile  unrest  of 
character. 

The  various  peculiarities  of  the  American  mind,  the 
outbursts  of  its  originality  and  independence,  are  mani 
fested  more  generally  and  freely  in  the  people  at  large,  in 
its  promptings  and  impulses,  than  in  those  which  are  com 
monly  considered  as  the  representative  minds,  the  literary 
stars,  or  any  other  exponents  of  the  spiritual  or  imagina- 


336  AMEEICA   AND  EUROPE. 

tive  faculties.  Among  the  people  likewise,  as  for  exam 
ple  among  that  of  New  England,  that  of  the  West,  gushes 
out  and  is  domestic  the  rich  vein  of  humor,  which  cons  i- 
tutes  a  trait  of  originality,  distinct  from  the  English  hu 
mor,  and  from  that  of  other  European  nations. 

Taken  in  the  whole,  in  its  substance,  the  American 
mind  is  eminently  a  progressive  one.  If  it  is  as  yet  compar 
atively  deficient  in  absolute  philosophical  comprehensive 
ness,  if  it  assiduously  elaborates  the  special  and  the  single, 
by  this  process  it  gathers  and  prepares  materials,  to  be 
come  co-ordinated  and  then  fused  together.  The  eternal 
spirit  which  watches  over  the  progress  and  the  develop 
ment  of  mankind,  alternately  evokes  to  prominent  activi  y 
the  various  powers  and  attributes  of  the  mind,  bringing 
them  into  full  play,  and  making  them  preponderate,  the 
one  over  another,  according  to  the  given  conditions  ai  d 
necessities.  Observing  in  jftankind  the  march  of  mental 
culture,  there  is  clearly  perceptible  an  alternated  but  u  i- 
interrupted  putting  out  and  holding  back  of  the  various 
mental  powers,  the  intuitive  and  the  intellectual  playiig 
into  each  other.  This  assimilation  and  fusion  at  the  given 
moment  of  the  life  of  individuals,  as  of  a  whole  people, 
constitute  a  complete  real  progress  and  civilization.  Al 
most  every  mental  and  intellectual  phenomenon  corres 
ponds  to  a  philosophical  and  social  claim  of  our  being,  and 
solutions  are  obtained  by  their  harmonious  interweaving. 
Then  again  new  problems  arise,  requiring  new  combina 
tions  and  fresh  efforts.  Exclusive  idealism  and  exclusive 
positivism,  bear  the  mark  of  onesidedness  and  uniformity, 
and  are  not  virtually  progressive.  A  wheel  can  stand 
still,  can  turn  backwards,  but  its  normal  function  is  to 
move  onward,  and  carry  onward  all  its  composing  atoms. 
So  it  is  with  the  mind;  it  embraces  subject  and  object  and 
moves  on,  because  movement  and  progress  are  the  sole 


THE    AMEKICAN   MIND.  337 

conditions  of  life  and  of  development;  they  alone  are 
creative. 

The  powers  of  the  intellect  Lave  been  exclusively  put 
into  requisition  and  taxed  from  the  first  signs  of  vitality 
made  by  American  society.  As  a  people,  as  a  nation,  the 
Americans  have  not  traversed  the  same  successive  stages 
as  other  peoples  and  nations.  It  can  be  said,  that  Ameri 
ca  has  had  no  childhood,  no  juvenility.  She  was  not  lull 
ed  at  the  cradle  with  the  legend,  with  the  mythic  song, 
with  the  murmur  of  tales.  The  Americans  matured  at 
once,  and  at  once  wrestled  with  stern  reality.  The  lay, 
the  popular  minstrel,  are  wanting  in  their  existence.  The 
lay,  the  song,  pour  out  of  the  heart  and  the  unruffled  feel 
ings  of  a  people.  They  flow  from  the  naive  faith,  and 
the  imaginative,  undefined,  tender  longings  of  childhood 
and  of  youth.  Thus  the  lay  becomes  impressed  on  the 
heart,  it  penetrates  soul  and  imagination.  "Where  it  has 
once  resounded,  there  it  never  dies  away,  and  can  disappear 
only  with  the  disappearance  of  the  human  family  from  the 
earth.  The  song  sways  over  the  heart,  undulating  it  soft 
ly  and  playfully  between  deep  earnestness,  and  sweetly 
moved  feelings.  The  song  softens  and  appeases  the  most 
bitter  and  burning  pains  of  heart  and  soul,  as  the  embrace 
of  a  mother  solaces  and  appeases  the  suffering  and  weeping 
child.  When  the  thorny  and  withering  contact  of  the 
world  stifles  the  purest  pulsations  of  one's  nature,  when  it 
fills  the  existence  with  bitterness  and  despair,  the  heavenly 
charm  of  song  warms  it  again  to  hope  and  to  life. 

Almost  every  European  people  lives  upon  popular 
lays ;  they  form  the  most  precious  and  inexhaustible  treas 
ure  of  the  domestic  hearth.  Whether  by  the  stern  sever 
ity  of  the  Puritanic  rule,  regulating  and  absorbing  feel 
ings,  impressions,  emotions,  or  by  the  arduous  hardships 
of  existence  pressing  pitilessly  on  the  primitive  settlers 
15 


338  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

north  and  south  in  the  United  States,  the  vein  of  popular 
song  was  cut  through  and  dried  up.  From  the  first  day, 
it  nevermore  gushed  anew.  Unwonted,  nay  unknown  o 
the  American  people,  to  the  American  hearth,  is  the 
soothing  worship  of  national  and  domestic  legends,  tales, 
traditions,  recollections.  Reveries  rocked  not  the  people; 
miseries  and  sufferings,  longings  and  love,  found  no  vent 
in  songs  and  melodies,  those  holy  transmissions  from  the 
youth  of  a  nation,  treasured  not  in  the  dead  leaves  ( f 
books,  but  everliving  in  the  memory  of  successive  gener  i- 
tions.  The  bards  of  such-like  spontaneous  outbursts 
sprouted  nameless  from  the  people  ;  they  left  their  son; 53 
resounding  in  the  hearts  and  in  the  air,  but  their  nain  3S 
remained  unknown  and  never  have  been  catalogued.  The 
lays,  like  the  art  of  writing,  were  not  born  in  factories, 
nor  did  they  appear  as  mediators  of  commercial  inter 
course.  There  must  have  b^en  powerful  or  soft  emotions, 
to  be  sung  in  ecstatic  inspirations,  and  emotions  and  ac 
tions  to  be  preserved  from  oblivion  ;  their  memory  was  1,0 
be  transmitted  to  coining  generations.  Thus  appeared 
unknown  minstrels  ;  thus  unknown  is  the  name  of  the  first 
inventor  of  writing.  The  lays  of  unnamed  minstrels  ro- 
peated  by  the  people,  inspired  a  Homer,  an  Ossian,  or  the 
Niebelungen ;  the  song  of  the  people  being  one  from 
among  the  many  ever-enduring  sources  of  poetry. 

Poetical  feelings  and  aspirations  are,  however,  inborn 
in  the  human  mind,  in  human  nature.  Poetry, — that 
sublime  and  purest  reflection  of  the  spirit,  elevating  man 
above  the  animal  world, — poetry  is  distributed,  although 
not  equally,  in  all  human  beings.  Few  souls  are  wholly 
bereaved  of  this  spark,  kindling  up  in  youth,  and  often 
in  mere  mature  age,  in  love,  in  actions  of  sacrifice  and 
of  struggles,  in  noble  passions,  in  longings,  in  aspirations 
towards  an  ideal,  in  efforts  to  elevate  oneself  above  the 


THE    AMEKICAN    JSttND.  339 

troubled  and  depressing  turmoil  of  life.  How  often  is 
the  simple  life  of  a  devoted  woman — a  wife,  a  mother,  a 
sister — an  uninterrupted  current  of  unconscious  poetry. 
True  poetry  is  not  necessarily  self-conscious,  self-concen 
trated.  True  poetry  is  not  absolutely  an  art,  but  rather 
an  ecstatic  prompting  of  the  soul,  and  does  not  always  con 
sist  in  the  musical  combination  of  words,  in  the  harmoni 
ous,  cadenced  expression  of  emotions  ;  but  it  makes  life 
itself  harmonious  under  all  circumstances.  The  highest 
poetry  of  life  is  manifested  in  action.  If,  however,  almost 
all  beings  originally  possess  such  a  poetic  spark,  not  in 
all  does  it  survive  the  terrible  contact  with  the  outward 
world.  In  most  it  becomes  soon  exhausted,  it  dies  out. 
In  some  chosen  souls  alone  the  spark  kindles  to  a  life- 
giving  flame ;  inspired  by  genius,  they  soar  above  creation, 
and  immortality  receives  their  name.  In  them  poetry  is  the 
highest  art,  and  the  highest  completion  of  their  existence. 
Even  sufferings  and  trials  often  increase  the  flame,  open 
ing  new  veins  in  their  inspired  souls,  sufferings  and  trials 
being  to  them  as  the  sledgehammer  which  crushes  glass, 
but  forges  steel  into  a  sword. 

There  must  have  been  poetry  of  action  and  of  endur 
ance  in  the  American  primitive  life,  as  there  was  in  the 
sacrifices  of  the  Puritans,  although  it  found  no  vent  in 
songs  and  other  productions.  The  poetical  spark  slum 
bered  during  the  colonial  time.  Colonial  existence  seems 
never  to  have  been  favorable  to  any  kind  of  poetical  effu 
sions.  So  the  ancient  colonies  of  Greece,  in  Italy,  Sicily, 
Marseilles,  repeated  the  songs  of  the  mother  country,  but 
no  fresh  genuine  strain  flowed  from  them.  It  might  even 
have  been  also,  that  the  climate  here,  assimilating  and 
identifying  to  its  influences  the  new  comer,  repressed  at 
the  start  the  poetical  effluence.  No  spring,  but  rapid 
transition  from  winter  to  summer ;  so  the  individual  here 


340  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

passes  from  childhood  at  once  to  manhood;  so  the  people 
unknown,  unconsidered  yesterday,  took  at  once,  in  full 
activity,  its  place  among  the  oldest  and  grown  up  natioi  s 
of  the  world.  Among  the  people  of  the  Old  World,  even 
material  poverty,  transformed  into  a  chronic  normal  sta,t<>, 
sometimes  formed  a  source  of  poetical  inspiration.  Thei  e 
the  youth  of  the  poorer  class,  in  forced  self-contentment;, 
abandons  himself  often  to  reveries  or  to  the  inward  life  of 
the  heart,  to  soft,  lovely  emotions;  here  the  child  in  the 
cradle,  the  tender  youth,  have  striven  and  strive  to  free 
themselves  from  the  withering  embrace  of  poverty,  plunge 
at  once  into  the  .current  of  the  prosaic  but  active  world. 
Not  spring  but  autumn  charms  and  attracts  the  Ameri 
cans;  not  the  bud — as  is  it  the  popular  song — but  the  ri 
pened  fruit j  the  carefully  worked  out  art,  characterize 
American  poetry. 

As  soon  as  independence  was  asserted  by  the  nation,  the 
activity  of  mind  became  evoked  in  all  directions;  po 
etry  and  literature  began  to  be  a  domestic  American  pro 
duct.  -  Lyrical  poetry  preeminently  pours  out  abundant 
ly,  in  powerful  streams  and  often  full  of  grace,  freshness 
and  charm.  The  lyric  productions  of  acknowledged  Amer 
ican  poets,  men  and  women,  as  well  as  many  accidental 
effusions,  can  fairly  stand  beside,  and  some  above  the  lyri 
cism  of  other  nations.  Many  of  the  little  fiery  or  graceful 
poems,  that  have  been  evoked  by  events  of  national,  do 
mestic  character,  bear  the  mark  of  originality. 

Generally,  however,  their  literature,  with  its  poetical 
and  ephemeral  creations,  is  not  original  in  conception,  not 
stamped  with  individuality,  to  the  same  degree,  as  are  the 
life  of  the  people  and  its  political  institutions.  Emanci 
pated  as  a  nation,  the  Americans  remain  mentally,  by 
their  literary  productions,  in  the  colonial  dependence  upon 
England.  They  have  outstripped  the  Old  World  in  most 


THE   AMERICAN   MIND. 

of  the  productions  of  intellect,  in  mechanical  arts  and  inven 
tions,  impressing  on  them,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  stamp 
of  originality  ;  per  contra  in  literature,  they  with  difficulty 
take  an  independent  start.  Many  are  the  natural  as  well 
as  the  conventional  reasons  and  causes  which  account  for 
the  phenomenon,  that  in  reality  there  does  not  exist — a 
few  productions  excepted,  as  for  example  Longfellow's 
Evangelina — an  original  American  literature,  but  only  an 
imitation,  or  a  continuation  of  the  English  literature. 
Hitherto  literature  seems  rather  to  be  engrafted  on,  than 
to  sprout  out  of  the  vitality  of  the  nation. 

It  may  be  considered  as  trivial,  and  in  itself  not  worth 
mentioning,  but  nevertheless  a  regret  presses  on  one's 
mind,  that  with  such  countlessly  accumulated  elements  for 
originality  in  every  direction,  no  new  language  could  have 
been  created  in  America.  When  the  Latin  world  suc 
cumbed,  out  of  its  linguistic  ruins  emerged  the  Italian, 
the  Spanish,  the  Portuguese,  the  Provencal,  and  the 
French  idioms ;  the  two  last  (the  Provencal  through  min 
strels)  contributing  again,  with  the  Latin  and  Saxon,  to 
shape  out  the  English.  All  these  offshoots  of  the  Latin 
developed  themselves,  to  a  certain  degree,  independently. 
The  parturition  was  difficult,  and  its  process  took  centu 
ries.  Dante  complained  of  not  having  a  literary  national 
language ;  but  he  became  the  god-father  of  the  idiom 
used  by  the  people,  lifted  it  up,  and  purified  it,  and  the 
Tuscan  was  created.  By  the  formation  of  the  above- 
named  sprouts  from  the  Latin,  new  agencies  for  the  ex 
pansion  of  the  inborn  productivity  of  the  human  mind 
were  brought  forth,  and  the  world  endowed  with  new 
characteristic  literatures,  reflecting  the  mental,  the  imagin 
ative,  the  social  peculiarities  of  those  various  nations. 
Such  newly  formed  languages  are  generally  richer  in  words 


34:2  AMERICA   AND   EUKOPE. 

than  is  their  matrix ;  but  they  are  poorer  in  grammatical 
forms. 

The  English  colonists  in  America,  although  immersed 
in  a  new  world  of  intuitions  as  well  as  of  facts,  impres 
sions,  emotions,  but  neither  politically  nor  mentally  severed 
from  the  mother  country,  did  not  attempt  to  assert  a  socia  I, 
and  still  less  a  literary  independence.  They  were  not  yc  t 
a  people  ;  and  it  is  only  in  a  people,  in  its  distinct,  inde 
pendent  existence,  that  the  urgings  for  self-conscious 
ness  in  mental,  social,  and  literary  creations  are  revealed. 
They  dared  not  to  overstep  the  authority,  or — what  very 
likely  they  believed — the  propriety  of  the  English  lai  - 
guage,  and  increase  irreverently,  by  new  linguistic  con  - 
binations  and  creations,  the  original  parent  stock.  They 
unconsciously  submitted  therein  to  the  all-powerful  author 
ity  of  the  masters,  using  old  names,  for  daily  newly  ap 
pearing  mental  and  material  phenomena. 

Languages,  those  great  arteries  of  mental  vitality,  re 
pose  not  on  authorities ; — they  were  not  taught  by  any 
primitive  creator  or  inventor ;  but  their  creative  essence 
and  force  are  in  the  people,  and  a  distinct  language  is  the 
cardinal  assertion  of  independence.  Hitherto,  all  tho 
great  nations  of  mighty  and  lasting  historical  significance, 
have  had  a  distinct  language.  The  American  nation  ap 
pears  the  first  on  the  social  and  political  horizon,  as  yet  de 
prived  of  this  symbol  of  individuality.  Independents 
must  exist  within,  in  the  thought,  and  then  it  becomes  as 
serted  outwardly,  in  all  the  intellectual,  social,  and  phy 
sical  or  material  manifestations  of  an  independent  people. 
An  innate  relation  exists  between  thinking  and  speaking  ; 
and  the  completeness  and  fulness  of  this  relation  reveals 
and  points  out,  in  the  crowd  of  nations,  the  historical  peo 
ple.  To  speak  an  original,  one's  own  language;  is  to  have 
an  original,  individual  manner  of  thinking,  instead  of  bor- 


THE   AMERICAN   MIND.  34:3 

rowing  other  people's  comprehensions,  ideas,  and  utter 
ances.  To  speak  an  original  language,  is  to  have  inde 
pendent,  individual  intuition  and  conception ;  because  to 
speak  is  to  manifest  the  inner  thought.  Language  is  the 
manifestation  of  the  spirit  geist  which  animates  man. 
Freedom  is  the  characteristic  and  the  element,  as  well  as 
the  attribute  of  the  spirit,  in  contrast  to  nature  or  matter. 
Language  is  the  fullest  utterance  of  the  spirit ;  it  pours 
out  from  the  intuitive  freedom,  and  evidences  that  freedom 
is  man's  destiny.  The  development  of  the  spirit  and  of 
language  generally  traverse  identical  stages,  both  being 
manifestations  of  virtual  individuality.  The  spirit  and 
the  language  are  the  highest  and  purest  essences  of  man's 
mental  activity.  Language  has  to  answer  to  the  demands 
of  the  mind ;  it  is  therefore  ever-living  and  ever-moving, 
and  not  made  once  in.time,  to  last  for  all  eternities.  Lan 
guage  ought  to  keep  pace  with  the  expansion  of  an  onward, 
striving  people.  Words  break  out  from  the  inward  man, 
and  their  generator  is  life,  and  not  dictionaries  and  author 
ities.  A  people  in  the  condition  of  normal  and  healthy 
growth  and  development,  extending  its  faculties  of  com 
prehension,  increasing  its  multifarious  mental  productions, 
expanding  its  aspirations,  multiplying  its  mental  and  ma 
terial  wants,  and  the  means  and  resources  for  their  satisfac 
tion — such  a  people  must  unavoidably  want  new  expressions, 
and  it  creates  them.  Such  words  are  the  spontaneous  reve 
lations  of  the  immanent  spirit.  The  substratum  of  the  Amer- 
can  people,  in  its  unrelenting  activity,  makes  use  of  such 
creative  force.  This  people  moves  on  a  separate,  almost 
limitless  orbit,  and  develops  its  individuality  among  the  new 
mental  and  physical  phenomena  therein  encountered.  The 
people  is  not  disturbed  by  models  or  traditional  authori 
ties,  but  creates  new  words  for  new  ideas,  conceptions,  ob 
jects,  emotions,  and  bestows  on  them  the  right  of  citizen- 


34:4:  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

ship.  Already  many  of  the  same  words  and  expressions 
have  different  meanings  in  America  and  in  England.  The 
vocabulary  of  Americanisms  forms  a  thick  volume.  The 
Americanisms  will  increase,  will  become  sifted  ;  and  fro-.n 
the  lips  of  the  people,  they  will  indubitably  pass  into  boots, 
in  spite  of  their  so-called  barbarism,  and  become  used  by 
refined  literators.  Their  origin,  the  power  creating  thei  i, 
are  the  same  as  were  those  of  all  pre-existent  languages, 
and  words  that  are  now  sustained  by  authorities,  and  i  i- 
cluded  in  dictionaries. 

The  American  literators,  being  brought  up  and  nurse  d 
on  English  models,  entertain  for  these  authorities  the  most 
filial  deference.  They  look  up  to  them,  rather  than  to  the 
living  fountain  within  themselves,  and  in  the  people.  The  y 
are  less  daring  than  the  people  amidst  whom  they  mov3, 
and  who  attempt  continually  to  rival  old  models,  to  surpa  >s 
them,  to  strike  in  every  direction  an  independent  vein,  dis 
similar  to  the  English.  The  highest  aim  of  literators  is 
to  imitate,  to  approach  those  examples,  to  remain  within 
the  boundaries  traced  by  those  whom  they  recognize  r.s 
their  masters,  to  win  their  approbation.  The  majority, 
above  all,  of  the  elder,  leading  literators,  almost  in  ail 
branches,  who  publish  their  labors,  count  upon  the  circu 
lation  in  America,  but  turn  nevertheless  their  mind  to 
wards  England,  wherefrom  they  are  anxious  to  receive  the 
supreme  consecration,  the  knightly  accolade.  England  is 
for  them  the  supreme  judge  of  the  correctness  and  purity 
of  the  language,  of  the  form,  the  style.  This  pupil-liko 
deference  to  that  distant  authority,  must  influence  and 
cramp  the  spontaneity  of  their  mind,  of  their  imagination, 
always  on  the  alert  not  to  commit  a  breach  upon  the  pro 
prieties  of  conventional  or  established  English  rules ;  not 
to  be  self-relying,  young  ;  not  to  use  words  or  images,  not 
to  introduce  forms,  unknown  in  dictionaries  and  in  time- 


THE    AMERICAN   MIND.  345 

honored  authorities.  For  many  of  the  literators,  the  ut 
most  possible  nicety,  the  fidelity  to  English  models,  to 
English  authorities,  the  finish  of  the  form,  becoming  in  this 
way  the  main  object,  the  substance,  the  conception,  the 
idea,  are  often  and  unavoidably  either  sacrificed  or  pushed 
into  the  back-ground.  In  most  of  the  authoritative  Amer 
ican  writers,  there  can  be  detected  a  certain  uneasiness  in 
handling  the  language,  as  in  a  dress  not  fitting  them  ex 
actly  ;  they  seem  to  tread  down  with  hesitation  and  un 
certainty  on  unsafe  ground.  Few  only  seem  to  break, 
self-asserting,  through  the  bar,  and  take  an  independent, 
individual  course.  In  reading  lengthy  English  works  or 
reviews,  one  sees  minds  perfectly  at  home  in  the  use  of  the 
language.  They  handle  it  with  ease  and  boldness,  seem  to 
appeal  to  the  inward  fountain  for  words  and  expressions, 
impressing  the  reader  as  being  careless  of  the  assent  or 
approbation  of  tutors.  The  English  writers  seem  to  en 
joy  independence ;  the  critics  enter  more  resolutely  in 
general  into  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  production,  without 
paying  so  much  consideration  to  the  artificial  smoothness 
of  the  form,  as  is  the  case  in  literary  and  critical  America. 
The  unequalled  actual  productivity  of  the  German  mind, 
as  well  in  quality  as  in  quantity,  is  to  a  great  extent  fa 
cilitated  by  the  absolute  independence  of  the  writer  upon 
authorities  and  dictionaries.  The  only  authority  to  which 
a  German  submits,  is  the  intrinsic  nature  and  character 
of  the  language,  as  felt  by  himself ;  the  toilsomely  elabo 
rate  form,  the  nicety  of  style,  will  never  cramp  the  run  of 
an  idea.  This  independence  is  more  pre-eminently  as 
serted  in  all  productions  of  a  so-called  serious  character ; 
of  course,  in  poetical  or  ephemeral  literature,  the  rules  of 
art  are  strictly  observed.  But  there  is  scarcely  any  Ger 
man  writer,  even  of  secondary  name,  who  does  not  appeal 
to  his  innate  creative  power  for  bringing  out  new  words 
15* 


346  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

or  turns  of  expression,  answering  to  new  demands  of  his 
mind  or  of  his  imagination. 

The  mental  dependence  upon  England  is  so  wide- 
embracing,  that  even  in  the  judgment  of  the  most  cul 
tivated  Americans,  familiar  with  the  literatures  of  other 
European  nations,  as  well  as  with  their  development, 
march,  and  history,  England  still  represents  the  whole  tf 
Europe.  So  when,  in  any  matter  whatever,  they  look  for 
a  term  of  comparison,  or  seek  to  elucidate  a  problem, 
either  scientific,  literary,  or  social,  by  correlative  facts  ex 
isting  in  Europe,  they  generally  limit  their  assertion  or 
comparison  to  England,  firmly  believing  that  it  is  tl  e 
same  as  if  they  were  drawing  the  necessary  evidences  from 
any  other  European  nation.  Few  hitherto  can  clearly 
realize  and  comprehend  the  immense  difference  existing 
between  the  social  and  mental  culture,  the  customs, 
habits,  modes  of  life,  on  tiik  Continent  of  Europe  and 
those  of  England  ;  few  are  acquainted  to  that  extent  with 
the  historical  and  chronological  development  and  concate 
nation  of  various  sciences  and  learning,  as  to  be  aware 
that,  in  this  transmission  and  development,  many  of  the 
sciences  have  originated  or  have  been  carried  forward  else  - 
where  than  on  the  English  soil.  The  people  at  large  arc 
less  under  the  influence  of  this  mental  mirage,  and  in  the 
thus  extensive  intercourse  with  Europe,  are  less  ruled  and 
influenced  by  the  reverence  for  England.  But  as  the  faith 
ful  wander  to  Mecca  and  Home,  paying  their  worship  to 
the  pope  and  cardinals,  so  American  literators  of  every  de 
gree  and  hue  visit  and  pay  homage  almost  exclusively  to 
their  English  models  and  masters. 

Literature  being  a  reflection  of  the  modes,  the  habits 
of  life,  as  well  as  of  a  certain  current  of  notions  and  ideas, 
its  character,  even  in  serious  productions,  corresponds  to 
the  character,  nay,  even  to  the  locality,  of  the  people. 


THE    AMERICAN   MIND. 

American  literature  was  started,  almost  born  in  New-Eng 
land,  and  has  been  developed  principally  in  Boston.  The 
authority  of  Boston,  which  prides  itself  on  its  close  re 
semblance  to  some  secondary  features  of  the  English  life, 
as  well  as  on  its  literary  deference  to  England,  has  checked, 
in  the  otherwise  independent  mind  of  the  people  of  New 
England,  the  impulse  of  originality  and  of  individuality. 
But  emancipation  dawns.  The  people  at  large  more  and 
more  diverges  from  Old  England,  and  carries  away  litera 
ture.  Further,  the  West  elaborates  a  new  social  and  men 
tal  life.  There  the  man  must  fall  back  upon  his  inborn 
resources  and  faculties ;  the  inner  and  the  outer  world 
equally  inspire  and  urge  him  to  individuality,  to  independ 
ence.  The  mind  and  imagination  have  no  bounds  there. 
Elements  of  the  most  varied  and  strongly  dissimilar  char 
acter,  mingle  and  fuse  with  each  other  in  the  West.  Their 
shock  and  fusion  will  produce  new  luminous  sparks,  new 
phenomena.  The  West  seems  therefore  destined  to  mark 
a  new  epoch,  to  give  a  new  and  original  start  to  American 
literature. 

The  American  mind,  the  American  people,  has  the 
greatest  capacity  of  consummation,  a  capacity  unequalled 
and  unparallelled  by  any  other  people  in  the  history  of  the 
human  race.  The  very  considerable  literary  home  pro 
duction  in  America  is  increased  by  the  English  literature, 
and  by  translations  from  other  languages.  The  people  at 
large,  and  not  only  certain  portions  of  them,  read  5  and  thus 
there  exists  an  inexhaustible  demand  for  new  products. 
Almost  all  the  branches  of  mental  and  intellectual  activity, 
good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  find  issues,  and  are  absorbed  by 
the  reading  public.  There  are  large  masses,  however,  of 
either  poor  or  illiterate,  and  scarcely  rudimentally  in 
structed  whites  in  the  Slavery  States,  who  are  not  attracted 
to  mental  occupation,  or  who  cannot  buy  books.  Not  less 


348  AMERICA   AND   EUBOPE. 

considerable  is  the  mass  of  illiterate  Irish,  who  thereft  re 
do  not  contribute  to  stimulate  the  demand  for  domestic  or 
imported  literary  productions.  The  Germans,  amounting 
likewise  to  several  millions,  confine  themselves  mostly  to 
German  literature.  About  sixteen  millions  of  inhabitants 
in  the  United  States — principally  of  the  Free  States — cc  u- 
stitute  the  kernel  of  the  population,  which  absorbs  domes 
tic  and  English  literature,  and  foreign  imports.  Not  a  ly 
European  country,  not  even  several  of  the  most  civilizod 
ones  combined,  and  accordingly  greatly  outnumber!  ig 
America,  proffers  in  proportion  so  large  and  remunerative 
an  outlet  for  literary  productiveness. 

The  mental  pursuit  of  book- writing  preserves  the 
prominent  characteristic  of  all  other  pursuits  in  Arnerk  a. 
It  is  principally,  if  not  exclusively,  an  object  of  mater  al 
gain,  and  the  aim  is  the  sale.  Such  is  the  case  even  with 
productions  of  serious  scientific  purport  or  contents.  Eu 
ropean  savants,  in  giving  to  the  world  the  fruits  of  their 
— often  life-long — protracted  speculations,  investigations 
and  studies,  yield  more  to  an  inward,  moral  desire  to  re 
veal  and  throw  into  the  world  a  new  generating  idea,  by 
which  others  may  become  enlightened,  or  stimulated  to 
a  new  and  fresh  activity.  They  have  in  view  scientific 
and  literary  fame,  more  than  the  pecuniary  advantages  to 
be  obtained  from  their  arduous  labors,  all  serious,  scien 
tific  books  of  whatever  range  meeting  generally  with  a 
rather  limited  demand.  In  America,  even  productions  in 
that  department  are  in  proportion  by  far  more  remunera 
tive. 

Theology  and  history  stand  foremost  among  the  more 
elaborate  indigenous  literary  products.  The  numerous 
various  confessions,  the  unlimited  religious  freedom,  and 
the  innumerable  independent  spiritual  communities  and 
associations  which  it  creates,  the  religious  element  still 


THE   AMERICAN   MIND.  349 

powerful  in  the  composition  of  American  society,  the 
mental  and  social  standing  and  influence  of  the  clergy, 
sufficiently  explain  this  prolificness. 

Mythical  traditions,  legends,  lays  and  tales,  preserved 
religiously  by  oral  transmissions,  have  been  the  living 
fountains  of  history  for  all  nations.  America,  born  in 
positive  times,  and  in  the  epoch  of  print,  could  not  sur 
round  her  cradle  with  such  dim  but  venerated  recollections. 
But  for  that,  the  May-Flower,  or  even  the  vessels  which 
brought  to  these  shores  Smith,  Raleigh  and  the  other 
first  settlers,  might  have  rivalled  the  Argo  in  their  mythi 
cal  halo.  But  for  that,  the  daring  discoverers  of  the  buf 
falo  tracks  in  the  undulating  lands  of  Kentucky,  in  the 
prairies  of  the  West ;  Fremont,  the  pathfinder,  upon  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  such  men  might  stand  before  posterity  as 
a  Hercules,  Theseus,  or  Odin.  The  recollection  of  the 
deeds  of  the  past,  charms  and  attracts  the  human  mind. 
Man  likes  to  tear  them  from  oblivion.  This  tendency  of 
the  mind  is  evidenced  strongly  in  America.  With  eager 
diligence  the  Americans  make  up  the  deficiency  of  not  be 
ing  covered  by  the  myths  and  the  dust  of  many  centuries, 
by  chronicling  the  most  minute  details  of  the  action  of 
the  first  settlers,  the  records  of  the  first  settlements,  and 
of  the  establishment  of  towns,  cities,  colonies,  and  their  ex 
pansion  into  States.  Thus  every  village,  nay,  almost  every 
spot  has  its  positive  history,  its  chronicler.  Those  sim 
ple  accounts,  how  society,  how  communities,  communes 
were  born  and  organized  here,  how  natural,  simple  causes, 
and  the  combination  of  events  with  human  activity,  hu 
man  social  and  material  wants,  almost  insignificant  at  the 
start,  in  their  subsequent  normal  concatenation,  have  ex 
panded  and  founded  States  and  a  nation — these  facts  by  in 
ference  aid  to  explain  the  origin  of  elder  and  ancient  na 
tions,  which  is  wrapped  in  mist.  Human  nature,  human  ten- 


350  AMERICA   AND   EUEOPE. 

dencies,  cravings  and  urgings,  although  not  uniform,  are  in 
substance  alike ;  their  workings,  manifold  in  their  out 
ward  results,  are  evolved  from  similar  foci.  Several  of 
the  events,  among  which  America  was  conceived,  and  her 
cradle  was  rocked,  when  duly  weighed  and  illuminated, 
partly  serve  as  a  thread  amongst  the  mythico-historica] 
mazes  of  the  long  by-gone  times  of  the  ancient  world. 

Unable  to  ascend  back  into  the  night  of  times,  or  wraj 
themselves  in  myths  as  a  nation,  the  Americans  seek  a 
compensation  in  individual  genealogies.  As  the  ancienl 
families  of  classical  or  modern  Europe  trace  their  origir 
to  gods,  demigods,- monsters,  giants,  heroes,  so  the  Ameri 
cans  delight  to  jump  over  the  honorable,  laborious  reali 
ty,  which  marks  their  existence  as  Americans,  and  to  de 
duce  their  mythical  genealogical  trees  from  English,  Sax 
ons,  Norman  nobility  and  gentry,  ascending  even  directly 
to  castles  in  Normandy ;  ofr  from  the  fishermen,  hard 
working  and  trading  mynheers  of  the  Zealand  sands  and 
marshes,  transformed  in  their  imagination,  into  medieval 
knights.  In  perusing  these  accounts,  one  finds  that — 
whatever  may  be  the  opinion  of  English  heraldists  and 
peers  to  the  contrary — English  aristocratic  lineages  do  not 
run  the  risk  of  becoming  easily  extinct,  as  they  branch  off 
into  numerous  American  families.  This  in  itself  childish 
and  innocent  desire,  evidences  that  man  placed  in  the  most 
opposite  conditions,  is  prompt  to  overlook  his  own  intrin 
sic,  individual  worth  for  an  ephemeral,  far-fetched  one. 

Genealogy  and  chronicling,  or  diligent  and  laborious 
collecting  of  biographies,  facts,  documents,  and  sources 
are  not  the  only  features  of  American  historical  litera 
ture.  Philosophical  comprehension  and  criticism  illumi 
nate  this  field.  So  Bancroft  has  distinguished  himself 
by  the  genuine  historical  intuition,  with  which  his  mind 
traces  out  the  knots  of  the  historical  net.  Seizing  these 


THE    AMERICAN   MIND.  351 

knots,  he  disentangles  the  threads,  follows  their  windings, 
points  out  how  they  again  interweave,  and  how  they  con 
tinually  complicate  and  branch  off.  A  lover  of  freedom, 
but  so  to  say,  coldly,  elaborately  enthusiastic,  Bancroft 
shows  his  mastery  in  the  delineation  of  historical  events, 
of  historical  characters.  Hildreth,  an  earnest,  positive, 
sober  narrator,  advocates  the  universality  of  human  rights, 
find  thus  points  out  luminously  where  and  how  in  her 
short  historical  existence,  America  has  deviated  from 
the  bright  and  all-embracing  principle  of  freedom,  once 
laid  down  as  the  corner-stone  of  her  social  structure. 
So  is  Motley  inspired  with  a  noble  and  ardent  hatred  of 
oppression  and  tyranny  ;  in  him  the  fiery  passion  for  lib 
erty  illuminates  and  warms  his  studies  and  researches, 
giving  insight  into  the  true  character  of  those  historical 
personages — hitherto  misunderstood  or  overrated — around 
whom  were  grouped  the  events  of  one  of  the  most  ominous 
epochs  in  the  history  of  the  emancipation  of  Europe  and 
of  the  Christian  world. 

The  industrial  and  mechanical  arts  which  bear  directly 
on  the  necessities  of  existence,  and  urged  by  these  neces 
sities  have  generated  the  most  multifarious  results.  They 
have  reached  in  America  an  expansion  almost  unrivalled 
by  any  other  European  nation.  All  such  inventions,  an 
swering  to  immediate  demand,  become  a  specialty  with  the 
Americans.  They  directly  increase  the  material  wealth, 
the  forces  and  the  power  of  the  nation,  producing  the  ex 
pansion  of  prosperity  among  the  masses  of  the  people. 
Democratic  in  their  nature,  origin  and  results,  benefiting 
thereby  the  greatest  number,  they  stand  foremost  in  popu 
lar  appreciation,  and  excite  general  and  intense  interest. 
In  harmony  with  the  state  of  society,  and  with  its  urgent 
necessities,  they  constitute  the  salient  feature  of  the 
American  mind.  And  so  it  happens  that  millions  will 


352  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

pass  unnoticed  a  work  of  the  Fine  Arts,  when  an  indus 
trial  and  mechanical  invention  would  throw  them  into  a 
feverish  excitement. 

A  taste  for  the  fine  plastic  arts,  a  sense  of  the  harm  > 
nious,  the  beautiful,  of  refined  elegance — inborn,  it  may  be 
a  love,  in  man,  when  considered  in  the  abstract — often  li-js 
dormant  in  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  mind  of  the  masses. 
In  general  those  senses  require  certain  social  conditions, 
a  certain  state  of  culture,  to  be  awakened,  to  bud,  to  blos 
som  and  to  give  fruits.  It  is  likewise  generally  as>erte<l, 
that  nicety  of  taste  can  be  acquired  only  with  difficulty, 
as  the  feeling  for  .the  beautiful  is  not  one  that  can  be  calk  d 
forth  by  instruction.  Those  who  find  in  the  law  of  racus 
the  solution  of  mental  and  social  phenomena,  concede  that 
neither  the  so-called  Anglo-Saxons  nor  the  English  are 
pre-eminently  distinguished  in  the  plastic  arts,  or  in 
genuine  artistic  perception.  *  This  deficiency  extends  even 
to  carriage,  dress,  etc.  It  is  maintained  that  the  taste 
for  the  Fine  Arts  in  the  English,  is  the  result  of  educa 
tion,  of  wealth,  instead  of  being  inborn,  as  it  is  for  in 
stance  not  only  in  those  born  plastics,  the  Italians,  but 
even  in  the  Netherlanders,  the  Flemish  and  various  Ger 
manic  or  Romanic  families.  English  parentage,  the  very 
natural  favor  bestowed  on  purely  mechanical  and  indus 
trial  arts,  as  immediately  productive — the  paramount  ne 
cessity  of  struggling  with  nature,  and  tearing  from  her 
life  and  situation ;  the  dollar  and  cent  value  which  is  be 
stowed  finally  on  every  product  of  the  mind,  in  virtue  of 
which  the  thinker,  the  artist  is  considered  by  many,  and 
above  all  by  those  who  in  their  opinion  are  of  the  better 
and  wealthier  sort,  only  in  proportion  to  his  gains ;  all 
this  together  would  seemingly  array  and  does  partly  ar 
ray  a  sum  of  odds  against  a  truly  artistic  taste  and  devel 
opment  in  America.  Nevertheless,  there  is  manifest  a 


THE    AMEEICAN    MIND.  353 

powerful  attraction  towards  the  plastic  and  Fine  Arts,  evi 
denced  by  the  comparatively  large  number  of  individuals 
devoted  to  artistic  pursuits. 

The  natural  and  progressive  development  of  a  people 
is  generally  slow  ;  and  the  aesthetic  one — when  not  favored 
by  special  combinations — is  the  slowest  of  all.  Free 
dom's  paramount  power,  at  times  more  intensely  stimulates 
in  a  people  the  taste  for  the  beautiful,  evokes  the  longing 
for  art,  or  enhances  and  generalizes  it.  Freedom  creates 
or  opens  new  arteries  for  the  creative  currents  of  mind 
and  of  imagination.  So  freedom  can  spread  in  the  masses 
refinement  and  aesthetic  taste.  A  truly  independent  people, 
fully  enjoying  and  developing  its  individuality,  becomes 
alive  to  the  beautiful  in  Art.  So  the  Athenians,  the  pu 
rest  democrats  of  the  Ionic  family — had  the  most  refined 
artistic  perception  and  taste  among  all  the  Greeks.  The 
realm  of  the  Fine  Arts  is  the  realm  of  the  absolute,  inde 
pendent  spirit.  Art  in  its  highest  conception  and  mani 
festation  is  the  product  of  self-determination  in  the  artist 
and  in  the  people.  Originality  is  the  essence,  and  imita 
tion  is  timidity.  Originality  consists  in  the  difference  of 
the  apperceptive  powers  of  one  mind  or  soul  from  another. 
Character,  originality  and  independence  constitute  indi 
viduality.  Art,  therefore,  in  order  to  have  a  broad  and 
luminous  signification,  ought  to  be  above  all  intuitive. 
Various  are  the  reasons  and  the  impediments  accounting 
for  the  fact  that  hitherto  American  Art  has  not  had  a  tho 
rough  stamp  of  intuitiveness  and  originality.  The  rea 
sons  are  to  be  found  in  the  nature  of  existing  conditions,  in 
the  artists  and  in  the  media  wherein  he  lives  and  moves. 

Architecture  was  the  first  in  the  genesis  of  the  arts. 
Necessity  as  well  as  higher  aspirations  were  its  generators. 
It  had  therefore  no  original  type.  In  its  higher  concep 
tion  and  execution  it  was  the  symbol  uttering  a  religious 


354:  AMEEICA   AND   EUROPE. 

feeling.  As  such  the  architectural  art  was  first  monu 
mental,  and  then  it  became  applied  as  a  domestic,  as  a 
household  one.  It  would  seem  that  the  religious  symbol, 
as  represented  by  architectural  creations,  undergoes  va 
rious  modifications  ;  but  only  at  distant  epochs  and  under 
a  special  condition  of  the  mind  and  soul,  both  of  them 
become  creative,  and  bring  forth  new  symbolic  utterance  4. 
Monumental,  religious  architecture  in  America  cannot  in 
augurate  a  new  conception,  but  has  to  combine,  adopt  and 
imitate.  For  the  Protestant  churches  of  congregational- 
ist,  rational,  democratic  America,  the  Greek  style,  with 
its  streams  of  light,  its  serene  symmetry,  like  reason  lying 
at  the  bottom  of  religious  America,  seems  more  appropriate 
than  the  gloomy,  sullen,  bodeful,  awe-inspiring  religioi  s 
architecture  called  Gothic,  Norman  or  romantic.  The  ab 
solutely  awkward  spires  or  towers  so  greatly  relished  ou 
American  churches,  have  no%»ymbolical  meaning;  they  do 
not  embellish  nor  do  they  give  a  distinct,  imposing,  or  gracv.- 
ful  physiognomy  to  the  monumental  architecture  of  tLe 
country. 

The  various  original  styles  of  monumental  and  rel- 
gious  architecture  do  not  absolutely  indicate  the  character 
of  a  people,  but  have  often  depended  probably  on  the  kind 
of  soil  on  which  they  were  started  and  erected  ;  on  th-j 
climate,  the  quality  of  existing  materials,  and  their  adapta 
tion  to  the  original  conception  and  the  object  in  view.  Tlni 
inferences  in  regard  to  the  character  of  a  people  drawn  from 
its  symbolical  monuments,  arc  not  at  all  conclusive. 
Gloomy,  imposing  religious  edifices  are  not  an  evidence  oi' 
an  identical  character  of  the  nation  or  tribe  by  which  they 
are  erected.  There  is  nothing  more  serious  and  grave  than 
the  Egyptian  religious  monuments ;  but  the  frescoes  on 
the  walls  representing  their  habitations,  with  the  light, 
graceful  columns,  the  vine  garlands  overhanging  the 


THE   AMERICAN    MIND.  355 

houses,  place  their  domestic  architecture  among  the  neat 
est  and  lightest,  and  such  must  have  been  the  inmates  of 
the  houses  in  their  daily  life  and  intercourse.  One  of  the 
most  ancient  tribes  of  Greece,  the  Tirynthians,  although 
they  are  counted  among  the  originators  of  the  heavy  cyclo- 
pean  edifices,  were  very  fond  of  laughing,  and  other  Greeks 
considered  them  a  silly  people.  The  church  architecture 
adopted  or  rather  preferred  in  America,  does  not  in  the  least 
reveal  any  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  American  mind  and 
character. 

Civil,  monumental  and  domestic  architecture  have 
an  immense  field  open  before  them  in  America.  They, 
to  a  certain  extent,  tax  the  creative  power  of  the  ar 
tists,  for  whom  the  peculiarities  of  the  climate,  the  so 
cial  conditions,  the  ways  and  habits  of  life  ought  to  form 
the  determinating  characteristics  of  American  architec 
ture.  If  it  should  be  difficult  or  impossible  to  originate 
a  distinct  American  style,  the  selection  from  existing 
styles,  their  modifications  and  adaptation  to  the  nature  of 
things  which  prevail  here  would  create  almost  a  distinct 
art.  False  pretensions,  trumpery  in  drawing  and  in  mate 
rials  ought  to  be  avoided.  Gaudy  shams,  florid  additions 
delight  in  the  showy,  at  the  expense  of  the  truly  elegant 
and  tasteful,  ought  to  be  shunned.  The  art  or  the  artist 
ought  to  resist  and  correct  the  desire  of  making  an  unne 
cessary  and  indiscriminate  display  of  wealth,  or  of  push 
ing  aside  symmetry  for  the  sake  of  premature  combina 
tions,  represented  as  originality.  Generally,  architecture 
has  no  field  at  present  for  new  creations.  Only  a  thorough 
transformation  of  society  would  start  a  truly  original  ar 
chitecture. 

Sculpture  and  painting  have  their  ideals  and  types  in 
the  intuitive  revelations  of  the  spirit,  and  in  the  reflection 
of  nature.  Their  various  productivity  is  limitless  in  prm 


356  AMEEICA   AND    EUKOPE. 

ciple  and  inexhaustible.  In  sculpture  and  painting,  im 
provement  and  individuality  ought  therefore  to  be  attain 
able  by  the  American  artists,  Intense  vitality  animates 
the  genuine  American  people  ;  taken  together  in  all  its 
characteristics,  peculiarities  and  modes,  it  is  full  of  energy, 
prompt  in  action,  and  on  a  larger  scale  than  were  evon 
the  Athenians.  In  the  deep, broad,  overflowing  land,  tie 
whole  current  of  people,  the  artist  ought  to  search  fjr 
types,  models,  and  inspirations.  There  is  the  space  for 
artistic  genius. 

Genius  reveals  itself  intuitively.  It  bursts  from  the 
recesses  of  the  mind  and  rushes  to  communion  with  eternal 
nature.  The  harmonious  blending  of  this  impulse  wi  h 
the  objective  world,  turns  inspiration  into  reality,  and  art 
is  born.  Genius  and  talent  elaborate  art.  Genius  revea  Is 
and  creates,  talent  reproduces  with  more  or  less  finish  e  <:- 
ternal  perceptions.  Both  therefore  in  various  gradatioi  is 
constitute  the  artist.  The  loftier  and  purer  are  the  inspi 
rations  of  the  artist,  the  more  fully  and  perfectly  he  brings 
out  the  various  manifestations  to  plasticity  from  the  depl  h 
of  the  human  spirit  and  soul ;  a  depth  which  he  can  only 
fathom  by  the  force  of  his  individual  mind.  The  plastic 
work  of  art  takes  the  middle  ground  between  the  imme 
diately  sensual  and  the  ideal  conception.  Thus  the  mere 
strict  imitation  of  nature  is  not  the  exclusive  scope  of  art, 
but  to  evoke,  to  incite  all  the  countless  emotions  of  which 
man  is  susceptible,  to  robe  them  with  corporeal  realiza 
tion.  Man  and  his  nature  are  the  object  of  art;  man  as  he 
feels,  lives,  acts,  as  he  is  impressed,  nay,  even  surrounded 
by  the  world  without.  In  painting,  but  above  all  in 
sculpture,  only  one  moment  in  a  given  action  can  be  se 
lected,  seized  and  fixed  ;  and  all  the  secondary  parts  and 
details  are  to  be  brought  submissively  but  harmoniously 
into  .accord  with  that  paramount  moment.  The  problem 


THE   AMERICAN   MIND.  357 

to  be  solved  in  sculpture  consists  in  sinking  and  fixing  into 
the  statue  the  spiritual  essence  of  the  being,  to  bring  this 
essence  into  such  accord  with  the  body,  that  the  reflection 
of  the  spiritual  becomes  expressed  and  conspicuous  in  that 
special  form  and  part  of  the  body  which  corresponds  to  the 
passion  or  emotion  to  be  represented.  The  transient  and 
accidental  in  all  the  other  parts  or  members  of  the  statue, 
ought,  so  to  say,  to  dissolve,  to  disappear  in  the  paramount 
aim,  preserving  nevertheless  in  the  whole  the  marks  of  in 
dividuality.  The  vitality,  elasticity,  and  freedom  of  the 
sculptured  body  depend  on  the  precision,  and  on  the  con 
scious  elaborate  finish,  of  every  single  part  thereof. 

Regarded  under  the  above  aspect,  sculpture  can  be 
uninterruptedly  creative.  Even  in  Europe — where  art  for 
many  reasons  has  collapsed  into  routine — art  makes  efforts 
to  unshackle  itself  from  the  onesighted  comprehension  of 
the  antique  or  classical,  and  of  its  slavish  imitation,  avoid 
ing  likewise  being  carried  away  into  the  infinite  of  romantic 
exaltation.  Both  these  directions  have  been  run  to  their 
utmost  limits  and  consequences,  aud  the  problem  of  our 
epoch  seems  to  be,  to  bring  into  accord,  inspiration,  imagi 
nation,  with  nature  and  study ;  the  contemplation  of  nature 
resulting  without  contempt  of  classical  art.  When  the 
above  problem  shall  be  solved,  the  epoch  of  self-conscious 
ness  in  art  will  become  inaugurated.  The  works  of  art 
have  to  reflect  the  endless  agitations,  emotions,  and  play  of 
our  imaginative  and  sensitive  faculty.  A  genuine  artist 
must  have  the  full  consciousness  of  his  creative  power  ;  he 
ought  to  dominate  above  the  vacillations  of  his  own  ima 
gination,  as  well  as  to  be  free  from  slavish  deference  to 
classical  models  and  their  imitation.  He  ought  to  stand 
firmly  on  his  individual  mental  and  even  domestic  ground. 
Such  artists  alone  have  initiated  new  epochs  and  schools. 


358  AMEKICA   AND   EUROPE. 

To  reach  such  height  ought  to  be  the  aim  of  American 
art. 

Palmer,  the  child  of  the  people,  receiving  from  it  1  is 
inspirations,  seems  to  approach  the  threshold  of  such  a  new 
era.  His  works  have  the  marks  of  the  above-mentioned 
tendency  of  the  century,  as  well  as  of  the  country  and  of 
the  people.  In  him  the  intuition  of  genius  reveals  the  new 
road,  which  is  pointed  out  in  Europe  by  criticism,  reflecti-ra 
and  study.  His  works  are  truly  American.  His  ideal  of 
beauty  is  not  limited  to  the  Greek  or  classic  type.  He 
shows  himself  to  be  an  individuality,  and  not  a  coerc  od 
imitator.  The  supreme  beautiful  is  always  a  compound 
of  invention  and  imitation.  So  are  always  born — and  so 
has  Palmer  created  them — the  highest  poetized  reali 
ties.  Art  is  to  be  the  free  but  inspired  interpreter  of 
nature,  of  the  living  model  ;  the  expression  of  the  sen  :i- 
mental,  of  the  beautiful,  of  Mie  vivid,  soft,  deep,  or  intense 
emotions  of  the  soul,  does  not  necessarily  require  to  be  en 
compassed  by  what  is  called  perfectly  classical  feature  s. 
Nature  revelling  in  diversity  of  traits,  exhibits  herself 
with  charm  in  the  so  called  incorrect  facial  outlines.  A 
deviation  from  the  absolutely  classical  type  enhances,  givos 
freshness  to  the  works  of  art. 

Painting  more  fully  embraces  man  and  nature  thnn 
sculpture,  and  commands  a  greater  variety  of  material 
faculties  to  reflect,  to  reproduce  inward  emotions  and  out 
ward  impressions.  Its  cardinal  element  is  light — (us 
shadow  is  only  its  diminution) — or  idealized  matter. 
The  creative  power  of  this  art  embraces  a  wider  sphere,  by 
bringing  out  more  completely  and  saliently  the  inmost 
emotions  of  the  soul.  The  individuality  of  the  artist  has 
innumerable  ways  and  unlimited  material  resources  to 
assert  itself,  and  this  accounts  for  so  many  and  various 
schools  of  painting.  Landscape  painting  has  not  its  foun- 


THE    AMERICAN   MIND.  359 

tain  in  intuition,  inspiration,  but  wholly  depends  on  ma 
terial  nature,  and  on  the  endless  combinations  of  her  va 
rious  images. 

Painting  is  largely  and  diligently  cultivated  in  Amer- 
ca,  but  hitherto  has  not  risen  to  a  self-determined  artis 
tic  individuality.  Europe  proffers  to  the  American 
student  her  most  accumulated  treasures  for  study,  and 
there  he  disappears  in  the  labyrinth  of  master-works, 
schools  and  various  attractions.  And  thus  American  art 
is  yet  either  wholly  in  infancy  or  limited  to  imitation. 
Its  development  is  constrained  and  spasmodic,  and  al 
though  some  distinguished  talents  sparkle,  no  native 
genius  soars,  marking  the  dawn  of  a  genuine  national  art. 
In  certain  conventional  social  conditions  surrounding  the 
artist  at  home,  and  partly  rooted  in  the  artists  themselves, 
less  even  than  in  the  dispositions  of  the  people  at  large, 
or  in  the  prevalence  of  a  democratic  atmosphere,  we  are  to 
look  for  the  reasons  of  this  rather  unsteady  and  unpropi- 
tious  course.  Portrait  painting — a  few  historical  compo 
sitions  excepted — is,  if  not  the  paramount,  at  any  rate  the 
cardinal  and  all-absorbing  productiveness  of  American 
artists.  It  carries  them  away.  But  not  from  portrait 
painting  emerged  the  immortal  masters,  who  have  given 
the  character  to  art,  and  elevated  it  to  a  heavenly  spiritual 
perfection.  Corregio,  who  stands  unsurpassed  and  alone, 
was  not  a  portrait  painter.  Van  Dyke's  portraits,  as  well 
as  those  of  all  the  great  artists,  occupy  the  second  range 
in  the  appreciation  of  their  various  productions. 

Portrait  painting  being  the  most  remunerative  in  Amer 
ica,  it  therefore  attracts  naturally  the  artist.  It  is  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  general  character  of  society — above  all 
of  that  portion  which  possesses  the  means  of  remunera 
tion.  The  demand  for  portraits  increases  with  increasing 
prosperity  and  wealth,  and  answers  to  the  inborn  and  justi- 


360  AMERICA   AND   EUKOPE. 

fiable  vanity  of  our  nature.  But  in  this  rapid  productior , 
inspiration — if  there  was  any  in  the  artist — dies  slowly 
out,  and  even  the  principles  of  art  become — often  uncor- 
sciously — neglected.  Difficulties  grow  more  and  mor3 
before  him,  who  in  proportion  loses  the  means  to  ovei- 
come  the  hinderances,  loses  his  intuitive  insight  in  art. 
One  can  observe  in  the  successive  exhibitions  of  the  Ameri 
can  artists,  how  year  by  year  most  of  them  become  less 
and  less  skilful  in  combining  in  just  proportions  art  and 
truth.  A  good  portrait  painter  is  to  bring  out  what  is 
characteristic,  without  running  into  caricature  5  he  is  t) 
vail — without  seeming  effort — that  of  which  only  i 
glimpse  is  to  be  had.  Beyond  the  inward  sentiment  iu 
the  artist  himself,  there  exists  no  rule  to  fix  the  propor 
tions  between  sincerity  and  artifice;  and  this  sentiment,  ii' 
not  nursed  carefully  in  the  soul  of  the  artist,  in  his  feel 
ings,  shrinks  and  becomes*1  extinguished.  To  be  sure , 
faithfulness  to  the  original  is  to  be  found,  is  to  be  felt 
deeply  by  the  gazer.  The  works  ought  to  be  true,  bu; 
without  excess.  Style,  or  what  is  even  still  worse,  the 
affectation  of  one — which  exercises  such  havoc  at  present 
every  where — ought  not  to  destroy  or  overshadow  the 
mental  expression  in  the  original ;  precision  is  not  to  run 
into  dryness,  nor  what  in  nature  is  elastic,  to  become  mel 
low  under  the  brush.  Portrait  painting,  as  observable  in 
the  exhibitions,  descends  by  degrees  into  a  mechanical  task. 
The  majority  of  artists  delight  in  the  facility  of  produc 
tion,  and  lose  the  feeling  of  the  exquisite,  their  brush 
loses  the  habit  of  correctness,  and  thus  instead  of  reach 
ing  the  graceful,  they  arrive  at  stiffness.  They  slowly  fall 
into  poverty  of  intention,  into  meagreness  of  design,  and 
occasionally  iuto  a  harshness  of  tint,  at  the  side  of  which 
their  other  faults  vanish.  They  seem  ofi^n  to  have  lost 
the  faculty  to  fix  the  measure  of  the  relations  of  contrasts, 


THE   AMERICAN   MIND.  361 

forgetting  that  a  tint  faultily  selected,  falsifies  and  destroys 
the  effect  of  the  surrounding  tint? — though  selected  with 
taste  and  skill.  Arrived  at  this  stage,  art  and  artist  are 
only  imitators  and  counterfeiters  of  masters  and  schools ; 
the  ideal  of  art  vanishes  from  their  mind.  The  feeling 
of  the  beautiful  in  art  disappears,  in  proportion  as  the 
artist  loses  sight  of  the  ideal  and  drops  into  imitation. 

The  generality  of  American  artists  crowd  mostly  to  the 
commercial  metropolis,  attracted  there  by  the  greater  op 
portunity  to  find  demand  for  profitable  work.  They  re 
turn  from  Europe  with  the  dim  idea,  that  a  large  Ameri 
can  commerial  and  populous  city  can  proffer  to  them  the 
elements,  the  means,  nay  the  atmosphere  so  necessary  to 
their  further  artistical  development,  to  their  inward  artis- 
tical  existence.  But  in  neither  respect  does  an  American 
commercial  metropolis  bear  any  resemblance,  or  contain 
the  same  various  social,  civilizing  and  modelling  elements 
as  the  European  capitals,  or  as  once  did  the  cities  of  Italy, 
Belgium,  the  Netherlands,  or  Germany,  celebrated  in  the 
history  of  art.  The  American  cities  are  not  centres,  where 
the  whole  life  of  the  people  condenses,  reflects  itself,  ra 
diating  therefrom  again.  Their  tone  and  their  influences 
are  almost  exclusively  those  of  business  and  money-making ; 
and  as  such  they  affect  the  artist's  existence. 

The  highest  European  social  circles  consider  the  artist 
among  their  gracefullest  adornments.  The  aristocracy  of 
genius,  or  the  talent  of  the  artist,  at  any  rate  finds  more  easily 
a  deferential  place  amid  the  aristocracy  of  Europe,  than 
among  the  would-be  aristocracy  of  an  American  commer 
cial  metropolis.  Besides,  without  that  social  circle,  the 
artist  finds  in  the  European  cities  variegated,  picturesque, 
suggestive  excitements,  ebullitions  of  life  in  all  directions, 
and  attractive  or  instructive  associations.  All  this  com 
bined  puts  into  shadow  the  sameness  which  prevails  in 
16 


362  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

American  cities,  acts  powerfully  on  the  artist,  excites  and 
expands  his  mind,  spreads  fresh  and  various  food  for  1  is 
imagination.  The  exchange  of  impressions,  ideas,  ripe  as 
to  revelations  in  works  of  art.  So  the  poet  of  histoiy, 
Goerres,  inspired  Kaulbach,  and  many  great  works  of  a  rt 
have  been  generated  by  the  like  mental  intercourse  and 
influences. 

Italy,  that  sacred  and  privileged  land  of  art,  the  Ital 
ians  its  born  worshippers,  are  not  fit  standards  for  coinpa  *i- 
son.  But  the  Belgian,  Dutch,  and  German  cities,  where 
the  arts  nourished,  were  likewise,  as  are  the  American  cities, 
prominently  the 'seats  of  industry  and  trade;  and  never 
theless  the  arts  found  in  them  their  shrine.  Rich  a  id 
poor  were  attracted"  towards  the  artist,  he  was  surrounded 
with  enthusiastic  respect.  There  the  artist  felt  his  exist 
ence  interwoven  with  that  o£  the  people.  His  standing  in 
the  palaces  or  in  public  squares  was  among  the  foremost. 
It  does  not  seem  that  the  American  artist  finds  here  this 
warm  atmosphere,  so  necessary  to  his  existence  and  expan 
sion.  His  studio  counts  not  among  the  prides  of  the  cit  y, 
and  of  its  inhabitants.  Art  is  looked  at  and  liked,  but 
not  worshipped.  The  existence  of  an  artist  is  not  an  c  n- 
tity  in  the  American  life,  in  the  American  social  relations. 
Very  few  only  among  the  wealthy  classes,  or  those  who 
enjoy  leisure,  find  time  to  throw  a  glimpse  on  art  and 
artists.  Most  of  them  believe  that,  paying  for  a  picture 
or  a  bust,  they  completely  fulfil  their  duty  to  society  and 
art.  That  kind  of  society  demands  of  literature  and  from 
art,  to  be  entertained,  amused.  It  is  even  sensible  to  the 
glory  spread  by  them  over  the  nation ;  but  it  does  not 
understand  how  to  surround  the  artist  in  every  day's  in 
tercourse  with  cheering  and  refined  consideration.  That 
society  does  not  imagine,  that  a  large  remuneration  is  not 
sufficient  to  nurse  the  tender  growth  of  art,  among  a  stiff, 


THE   AMEKICAN   MIND.  363 

discolored,  conventional  world,  an  imitation  of  all  imi 
tations. 

Such  seem  to  be  the  social  influences  of  an  American 
metropolis  on  the  artists ;  if  otherwise,  why  are  the  best 
and  most  eminent  among  them  continually  oozed  out  from 
their  country  ?  why  do  those  who  remain  collapse,  while  a 
progressive  sinking  is  visible  in  their  works  t  The  air, 
therefore,  of  American  cities  acts  slowly,  but  it  seems  to 
depress  and  wither  them,  often  without  their  being  con 
scious  of  it.  Most  of  the  artists  continually  seek  a  more 
congenial  atmosphere.  Almost  all  their  best  productions 
have  been  composed  or  executed  in  Europe.  While  they 
dwindle  at  home,  they  reinvigorate  in  the  distant  pilgrim 
age.  Thus,  among  others,  the  masterly  historical  paint 
ings  of  Leutze  are  executed  in  Europe. 

Not  in  Europe,  however,  can  be  created  a  genuine 
American  art.  There  the  artist  stands  on  foreign  soil,  and 
is  lost  among  the  schools.  Art  must  have,  as  it  has  always 
had,  its  own  national  ground  and  fountain.  A  mental, 
spiritual,  as  well  as  a  material  communion,  must  exist  un 
interruptedly  between  the  artist  and  the  people.  So  it 
was  in  Athens,  so  in  modern  Europe,  wherever  art  has 
flourished,  and  wherever  schools  or  particular  genres  were 
created.  The  true  artist  grows  and  expands  oh  domestic 
soil,  ought  to  breathe  domestic  aroma ;  and  then  only  he 
gives  to  art  the  national  stamp.  The  artist  residing  in 
Europe,  or  even  in  such  American  cities  as  do  not  mirror 
the  life  of  the  people  nor  its  physiognomy,  will  never  create 
a  distinct  American  art.  The  Madonnas  of  Raphael  have 
a  Florentine  and  Roman  type.  .  All  that  surrounds  them 
is  Italian,  and  represents  the  minutiae  of  the  Italian  life. 
Da  Vinci,  Titian,  preserved  to  their  masterpieces  the  Lom 
bard,  the  Venetian  character.  Zurbaran,  Murillo,  etc.,  are 
Spaniards  in  their  Madonnas,  their  saints,  angels,  and 


364:  AMERICA   AND    EUKOPE. 

Christ  children,  as  well  in  the  street  boys  and  beggars. 
The  splendid  carnation  of  the  pictures  of  Rubens  repio- 
duces  the  Flemish  type.  The  Holbeins,  Durer,  are  emi 
nently  German.  All  these  examples  show  that  art  remains 
always  faithful  to  the  character  of  the  nation  in  features 
and  types,  as  well  as  in  the  paraphernalia.  The  Netht  r- 
land  school  was  born  out  of  the  independence  of  the  na 
tion.  In  all  its  branches,  composition,  portraits,  or  land 
scape,  it  is  the  most  faithful  reflection,  not  only  of  tie 
lineal  features  of  the  Dutch,  but  of  their  modes  of  life, 
manners,  habits,  customs,  dresses,  various  social  distirc- 
tions,  of  the  festivals  and  occupations  of  all  classes  of  tie 
people.  So  was  formed  the  character  of  the  Netherland 
school  and  genre.  It  became  distinct  and  original  by  ic- 
maining  faithful  to  the  people, 

Art  cannot  acquire  expansion  and  splendor  if  it  is  a 
luxury  enjoyed  or  understood  only  by  few.  Poetry,  lite 
rature,  as  well  as  art,  ought  to  plunge  into  the  daring  and 
vigorous  life  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  and  not  pla.sh 
in  the  vapid  air  of  cities,  in  their  conventionally  distorted 
societies.  The  artistic  feeling  in  the  American  people 
must  be  formed  independent  of  the  aristocratic  one.  To 
create  such  a  feeling  seems  to  be  the  mission  of  a  gen 
uine  American  artist.  Artists  created  tho  love  of  arts  in 
the  people  of  Athens,  Italy,  Belgium,  Holland,  etc.  A 
Pericles  cannot  emerge  out  of  the  American  institutions. 
A  church,  like  the  Catholic  corporations,  aristocracies 
and  sovereigns,  are  impossibilities  here  and  art  must 
prosper  without  them.  Artists  creating  a  national  art- 
will  create  a  feeling,  a  sense  and  an  interest  for  art  amono- 
the  people  ;  in  the  people  alone  he  will  find  lavish  and 
hearty  patronage. 

Music  has  its  fountain  in  our  soul,  is  the  purest  and 
loftiest  expression  of  its  various  emotions.  The  Germans 


THE   AMERICAN    MIND.  365 

believe  music  to  be  the  poetry  of  the  soul.  Among  the 
genuine  Americans,  music,  however  deeply  felt  and  va 
lued,  seems  nevertheless  to  be  an  acquired  and  cultivated 
taste.  The  musical  sense  is  touched,  incited  from  without, 
but  bursts  not  spontaneously  from  within.  There  are  no 
domestic  popular  melodies  resounding  from  the  chords  of 
the  heart,  vibrating  with  the  various  emotions,  as  there 
are  no  national  dances,  the  one  and  the  other  revealing  an 
inborn  musical  sense.  The  acquired,  the  cultivated  taste, 
spreads  elaborately  in  cities  and  villages,  in  rich  parlors 
and  in  cottages.  Those  re-echo  the  fervently  studied, 
mostly  operatic  Italian  airs,  or  at.  times  English  ballads. 
Difficult,  ungrateful  and  almost  impossible  must  prove  the 
attempt  of  an  American  musical  genius  to  create  a  specific 
American  art.  He  cannot  make  vibrate  what  does  not. 
exist ;  he  cannot  evoke  from  within  himself,  nor  become 
inspired,  nor  move  and  draw  from  an  inward  genuine  na 
tional  melodial  flow,  which  is  not  running  in  the  utmost 
depth  of  feeling,  not  caressingly  undulating  in  tunes. 
He  cannot  strike  such  sympathetic  chords  in  the  breast  of 
his  compatriots,  as  do  in  their  homes  the  Italian,  German 
or  French  composers. 

Aside  from  what  in  their  compositions  is  a  creation 
inspired  by  the  intuitive  art  in  its  expression  of  general 
human  emotions,  passions,  or  longings,  those  composers 
strike  peculiar  accords,  combining,  re-echoing,  modulating 
feelings  and  sounds  almost  innate  in  the  various  nations 
among  which  they  live.  So  for  example,  Meyerbeer  re 
echoes  the  chant  of  the  Hebrew  synagogues ;  Gottschalk, 
the  American  composer,  owns  his  all  conceded  originality 
to  having  struck  the  rich  vein  of  the  Negro  melodies. 
Music  very  likely  will  for  a  long  time,  if  not  for  ever,  re 
main  a  studied,  borrowed,  and  therefore  artificial  taste  and 
want  for  this  country. 


366  AMEEICA   AND    EUROPE. 


CIIAPTEE  XII. 

CUSTOMS,    MANNERS,    HABITS,    ETC. 

SOCIAL  conditions  variously  influence  and  model  customs, 
usages,  habits,  and  manners.  In  Europe,  the  distinction 
which  have  existed  for  centuries,  the  different  social  con 
ditions,  pursuits,  and  daily  occupations  of  each  soci.il 
stralum,  have  shaped  out  a  variety  of  customs  peculiar  i  o 
each  class.  At  the  side,  therefore,  of  certain  nation  d 
habits,  common  to  all — nbbility,  burghers,  the  lower 
classes,  composed  of  operatives,  laborers  and  peasantry- 
each  of  them  has  certain  characteristic  usages.  No  such 
social  subdivisions  and  distinctions  having  existed  in 
America  at  the  start,  nor  existing  now,  the  customs,  halt- 
its,  usages  of  the  Americans  are  more  uniform  than  tho^e 
of  European  nations.  Little  if  any  difference  exists  there 
in  between  cities  and  villages,  between  what  is  customary 
in  the  dwellings  of  the  rich  in  commercial  cities,  or 
plantations,  and  in  the  cottages  of  artisans  and  farmers. 
These  habits,  notwithstanding  their  modification  by  wealth 
or  by  attempted  assimilation  to  the  modes  of  life  of  the 
aristocratic  and  superior  European  classes,  in  their  gene 
rality  are  similar  to  the  mode  of  life  among  the  small  Eu 
ropean  burghers  (petite  bourgeoisie).  They  are  similar  in 
their  general  character  and  their  minute  shadowings,  as  the 
mode  of  life  of  the  first  settlers  was  necessarily  a  transmis 
sion  and  a  continuation  of  the  life  of  the  small  burghers 


CUSTOMS,    MANNERS,    HABITS,    ETC.  367 

artisans,  or  yeomen,  from  whom  most  of  the  settlers  draw 
their  honorable  origin.  Domestic,  family,  household  vir 
tues  were  once  in  Europe  called  specially  the  burgher's  vir 
tues  ;  they  consisted  in  quietness,  sobriety,  order,  labori- 
ousness,  morality.  Such  was  and  must  have  been  preemi 
nently  the  American  domestic  life  and  intercourse.  Lux 
ury,  lavishness,  expensiveness,  are  only  comparatively 
recent  acquirements,  overhanging  the  traditional  customs. 
The  ceremonies  used  at  festivals,  weddings,  receptions, 
and  various  other  occasions,  in  even  those  habitual  social  in 
tercourses  among  the  wealthiest  who  are  most  apt  to  imitate 
the  European  higher  classes,  differ  nevertheless  almost 
wholly  from  those  in  use  among  them ;  bear  the  strongest  re 
semblance  to  the  usages  which  are  considered  in  European 
higher  society  as  obsolete,  but  which  are  religiously  pre 
served  in  some  corners,  in  second  and  third  rate  cities,  by 
their  burgher  inhabitants.  The  highest  burgher  classes  of 
the  Old  World,  composed  of  bankers,  capitalists,  money 
makers,  or  financiers,  wealthy  industrials,  and  professional 
men,  since  the  great  French  revolution  mix  more  or  less 
freely,  and  stand  almost  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  an 
cient  nobility.  Their  manners  and  customs  are  nearly  the 
same,  and  small  existing  diiferences  can  be  detected  only  by 
a  well  experienced  eye.  The  customs  and  manners  com 
mon  to  them  are  rarely  transplanted  into  America,  and  are 
not  indigenous  to  the  country.  Besides,  new  exigencies 
and  modes,  special  and  peculiar  to  the  American  conditions 
of  society  and  life,  have  operated  on  the  social  intercourse. 
And  thus  an  immense  difference  exists  between  the  con 
ventionalities  by  which  social  intercourse  is  regulated  in 
Europe  and  in  America.  However  complete  the  knowledge 
of  the  like  conventionalities  and  habits  acquired  among  the 
best  and  most  finished  society  in  Europe,  one  might  still 
stumble  often  here,  as  many  such  conventionalities  have 


368  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

a  totally  opposite  signification.nl  their  bearing,  as  polite 
ness  and  impoliteness,  in  America  and  in  Europe. 

Notwithstanding  the  already  acquired  and  rapidly  in 
creasing  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  people,  there  exist 
only  a  few  individuals  and  no  classes  of  leisure,  and  the  r 
influence  on  social  life  and  its  usages  has  hitherto  beta 
in  general  imperceptible.  In  Europe  the  aristocracy, 
that  is,  a  whole  class  of  families  living  by  the  labor  of 
others,  have  formed,  for  uncounted  centuries — Greece  and 
Rome  included — the  pivot  of  social  relations,  their  apex, 
as  well  as  the  nursery  of  refined  customs  and  usages.  In 
America  individual  labor  and  occupation  have  been  impe  •- 
ative  necessities  of  existence,  as  well  as  the  means  of  social 
distinction  •  they  have  therefore  influenced  and  shaped 
out  to  a  great  extent  American  customs  and  usages,  stani]  >- 
ing  on  them  in  many  respects  a  distinct  mark.  This  land, 
this  society  proffers  no  spaCte,  no  inducements,  no  charm 
for  an  intellectual  and  still  less  for  a  social  leisure.  Pn  - 
duction,  activity  are  enjoyments,  and  existence  becomes  a 
burden,  and  deteriorates  moralty  and  materially  without  ,i 
serious  pursuit,  without  daily  work  and  occupation.  1 1 
European  societies  persons  of  leisure  or  of  idleness  plunge 
into  various  excitements;  many  of  them  refined,  but  often 
mischievous  to  themselves  and  others.  America  proffers 
only  somewhat  gross  or  coarse  pastimes  for  such  a  class  ; 
most  men  retiring  from  active  or  business  life,  after  a  shorn 
time  return  to  it  indirectly,  and  continue  to  dabble  in 
money-making.  Thus  generally  when  Europeans  chatter, 
the  Americans  sign  bills,  stocks,  or — as  it  is  said  in  com 
mon  parlance — shave. 

The  active,  busy,  industrious,  and  in  all  conditions  of 
life,  hard-working  Americans  do  not  surpass,  however,  in 
endurance  of  toil  that  immense  portion  of  European  so- 
cietv,  which  in  all  social  gradations  is  likewise  obliged  to 


CUSTOMS,    MANNERS,    HABITS,    ETC.  369 

earn  a  livelihood,  either  in  an  elevated  or  in  the  lowest 
social  condition.  That  the  European  men  of  business,  of 
every  profession,  the  officials,  artisans,  operatives,  laborers 
— when  not  utterly  poor  and  destitute — find  almost  daily 
a  few  hours  to  devote  to  leisure,  to  sociability,  and  even  to 
amusement,  results  from  a  certain  superior  method  in  the 
distribution  of  their  hours  and  occupations,  and  from  the 
habits  thus  acquired. 

The  myriads  of  various  officials,  high  and  low,  are  at 
work  more  hours  daily  than  are  the  men  in  corresponding 
stations  in  America.  The  wheelworks  of  the  govern 
mental  machineries  are  more  complicated ;  on  account  of 
centralization  they  embrace  far  more  objects,  and  cover 
far  more  extensive  space.  The  countless  threads  of  the 
government  and  of  all  the  branches  of  administration, 
penetrate  in  most  minute  ramifications  the  whole  social 
structure,  cross  and  combine  with  each  other,  and  depend 
wholly  upon  precision  in  their  working  and  rotations  for 
preventing  accumulation,  interruption,  stagnation.  The 
various  official  correspondences,  even  of  the  inferior  offi 
cials,  are  very  complicated  and  extensive,  and  the  superior, 
therefore,  as  the  inferior,  spends  more  time  at  his  desk 
than  his  American  colleague.  The  responsibility,  the  dis 
cipline,  the  absolute  dependence  on  the  chief  or  superior, 
the  continually  increasing  competition,  by  far  surpassing 
the  demand,  the  almost  insurmountable  difficulty  in  find 
ing  a  new  occupation,  position,  nay  the  means  of  sustain 
ing  existence,  when  those  once  possessed  are  lost ;  all  this 
summed  up  together,  obliges  the  European  officials  to  be 
to  the  utmost  precise,  diligent^  and  assiduous  in  fulfilling 
their  daily  tasks  and  duties. 

The  man  of  studious  pursuits,  the  savans,  the  profes 
sors  at  universities  and  gymnasia,  above  all  in  Germany, 
generally  cover  a  more  extensive  as  well  as  a  deeper  ground 
16* 


370  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

with  their  labors  and  investigations.  They  are  surrounded 
by  numerous  competitors  and  critics;  and  either  if  d<- 
peiident  on  government,  or  on  the  public  favor  or  assen  , 
they  must  maintain  by  the  utmost  efforts  and  diligence, 
their  scholarship  and  their  scientific  name,  on  both  which 
depend  their  mostly  scanty  means  of  daily  existence.  Tho 
hours  devoted  daily  by  a  professor  in  Europe  to  teaching 
and  lecturing,  generally  equal  and  often  outnumber  win  t 
in  similar  conditions  are  devoted  here.  The  principal  ii  - 
come  of  a  professor  depends  upon  the  fees  received  from 
the  students.  Often  several  professors  lecture  on  the 
same  subject  in  the  university ;  or  a  professor  who  has  ac 
quired  fame  in  a  speciality,  attracts  pupils  in  hundreds 
from  all  Germany.  The  students  have  mostly  the  free 
choice  of  university  and  of  professor,  and  thus  is  create  1 
and  maintained  an  uninterrupted  rivalry  and  competition, 
by  which  science  and  her  worshippers  are  equally  bem - 
fited.  All  this  taxes  to  the  utmost  the  time  and  the  men 
tal  capacities  of  the  professors  and  savants,  whose  pro 
ductivity,  as  is  evidenced  by  their  various  publications 
and  contributions,  on  the  average  surpass  those  of  Amer 
ican  scholars  and  men  devoted  to  the  various  scientific 
professions.  In  spite  of  all  this  accumulation  of  labor, 
the  European  savants  in  general,  and  in  particular  tho 
far-famed  German  professors,  those  mines  of  learning  and 
productivity,  spend  almost  daily  a  couple  of  hours  in  so 
ciable  relaxation,  conviviality,  or  genial  conversation.  All 
such  pastimes  are  nearly  unwonted,  or  rarely  enjoyed  by 
the  American  learned  brotherhood. 

Artisans,  shopkeepers,  tradesmen,  merchants,  bankers, 
in  general  all  business  men,  in  Europe  as  in  America,  must 
rely  alike  upon  skill,  shrewdness,  acuteness,  and  aptitude; 
for  their  pursuits.  But  as  Europe  is  the  centre  of  com 
mercial,  banking  and  industrial  activity,  production,  and 


CUSTOMS,    HANKERS,    HABITS,    ETC.  371 

expansion,  the   commercial  combinations  are  more  wide- 
embracing  and  complicated  there  than  in  America.     This 
alone   obliges  the   European  bankers,  the  chiefs  of  indus 
try,  and   commercial  men,  to  devote  their  intellect  more 
intensely  to  various  and   accumulated  operations.      Be 
sides,  in   Europe  the  crowd  is   dense,  every  spot  is  occu 
pied,  and  he  who  falls  is  downtrodden,  and  usually  has  no 
opportunity  to  rise  again  and  to  gather  new  forces      On 
the  continent,  the  failure  of  a  commercial  house  generally 
iisgraces  the  name  of  the  party,  his  family,  his   children 
and  is  often  followed  by  suicide.     Thus  the  existence  of 
a  man  engaged  in  a  regular  honest  business,  is  a  stru^e 
for  honor,  for  life  and  death.     Here,  on   the  contrary  an 
individual,  unsuccessful  in  any  branch  or  line,  rises  as 
quickly  as  he  fell ;  dusts  himself  off,  and  rushes  a<rain  into 
the  same  or  another  enterprise,  without  any  grea°t  injury 
to  his  name  or  credit.     An   American   changes  place  and 
even  occupation,  pursuit,  trade,  running  from  one  extreme 
3  another,  with  a  rapidity  and  ease  neither  thought  of 
nor  possible  in  crowded  Europe.     For  these  reasons,  Eu 
ropean  merchants,  bankers,  and   business  men  ou*ht  ap 
parently  to  be  more  overworked,  and  have  fewer  hours  to 
ievote  to  social  intercourse  and  even  amusements,  than 
the  Americans.     But  the  contrary  is  the  case.     In  Eu. 
ropean  capitals,  in  large  and  small  cities,  that  class  of  men 
participates  in  all  large  and  small,  in  public  and  private 
amusements  and  gatherings,  for  which  the  Americans  gen 
erally  either  have  no  taste  or  no  time.     And  nevertheless 
the  American  seems  to  be  always  in  a  hurry  and  excited  •' 
at  his  meals,  in  his  study,  and  at  his  counter.     For  exam 
ple,  in  the  morning  hours,  when  the  New  York  business 
population,  old   and  young— and  all  is  business  in  New 
York— pours  out  into  the  main  artery,  in  Broadway,  and 
descends  hurriedly  «  down  town,"  nothing  in  the  world 


372  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

could  stop  or  divert  the  torrent.  Even  if  Sebastopol  hac. 
been  in  their  way,  those  men  would  have  run  over  it  ai. 
one  rush. 

The  unsteadiness,  however,  which  prevails  in  all  Amer 
ican  conditions  and  pursuits,  renders  it  very  difficult  aric 
thorny  to  the  American  business  men  to  attend  to  the  su 
perintendence  and  direction  of  details  in  the  management 
of  their  various  interests.  Although  the  business  of  the 
European  is  more  complicated  and  more  extensive,  it  cat 
be  more  easily  organized,  brought  into  a  methodical  anc 
regular  activity,  and  thus  be  more  easily  superintended 
In  Europe  the  subordinate  clerks  have  not  as  many  va 
rious  and  free  openings  before  them  as  in  America;  anc. 
thus  they  remain  in  their  condition  often  for  life ;  they  ac 
quire  the  necessary  routine  of  each  special  house ;  win  tho 
confidence  of  the  employers,  and  become  faithful  and  trusty 
workers.  Often  in  Europe  *the  existence  of  a  clerk  anc 
subordinate  is  intimately  interwoven  with  the  existence, 
the  honor,  the  welfare  of  the  house  ;  he  becomes  a  member 
of  the  body,  a  bone  of  its  bones.  In  America  men  change 
continually  as  their  prospects  brighten,  and  thus  the  chiefs 
of  commercial  houses  must  continually  and  laboriously 
train  new  subjects,  and  exercise  a  more  strict  vigilance 
upon  them  and  their  daily  work.  Such  a  continual  effort 
must  be  more  exhausting,  than  are  the  intense  and  wide- 
reaching,  but  methodical  and  calmly  conducted,  operations 
of  European  mercantile  and  banking  houses.  This  daily 
fatigue  and  exhaustion  may  account  for  the  fact,  that  gen 
erally  very  few  men  of  mature  age  are  to  be  seen  in  social 
circles  and  places  of  amusement. 

Artisans,  operatives,  workingmen  in  overpeopled  Eu 
rope,  have  far  smaller  gains  and  wages  than  the  same 
classes  in  America.  To  make  their  living,  they  must 
therefore  work  longer  and  harder.  The  small  workshops 


CUSTOMS,    MANNERS,    HABITS,    ETC.  373 

open  earlier,  and  the  operatives  are  more  hours  at  their 
task  in  Europe  than  in  America,  and  so  are  generally  me 
chanics  at  out-door  work.  The  various  tools  used  by 
Americans  being,  however,  more  perfect  and  handy  than 
those  used  by  the  majority  of  Europeans,  the  former  no 
doubt  accomplish  more  work  in  a  given  time  than  the  lat 
ter.  A  European  village,  farm,  and  field  are  likewise  al 
ready  animated  while  the  American  one  still  slumbers ; 
and  generally  only  the  darkness  of  night  stops  the  toil  of 
a  European  farmer,  field-laborer,  or  journeyman. 

Economy  in  general  prevails  not  among  Americans  to 
the  same  extent,  as  it  does  among  those  various  European 
classes,  who  are  obliged  to  live  by  their  labor,  of  whatever 
nature, — the  superior  social  crust,  formed  of  various  ele 
ments,  aristocratic  as  well  as  bourgeois,  alone  excepted.  In 
America,  labor  is  almost  always  productive — matter,  na 
ture  is  exuberant,  and  the  general  rise  of  every  object  so 
continual  that  the  value  of  land,  of  products,  etc.,  double 
quickly,  almost  as  by  their  innate  movement.  No  one 
seems  to  think  about  the  necessity  of  saving,  or  of  husband 
ing  material  resources.  Tke  Americans  economize  forces 
by  their  labor-saving  machineries,  which  have  been  con 
trived  by  necessity, — but  in  handling  the  primitive  matter 
and  produce,  they  waste  it  with  a  lavishness  unknown  to 
Europeans,  who  are  short  of  space,  overburdened,  com 
pressed  by  vicious,  social  organization,  and  crowded  upon 
one  another.* 

*  The  creative  forces  of  nature  seem  likewise  not  to  be  carefully 
husbanded.  Among  other  striking  proofs  of  it  is  the  destruction  of 
the  forests  by  use  and  misuse,  by  the  axe,  and  by  fires.  In  some  time 
the  climate  may  become  affected  by  this  destruction,  as  there  exists 
no  other  barrier  to  break  the  northern  and  north-western  winds  and 
storms,  freezing  the  country  and  covering  it  with  snow  almost  in  one 
day — from  a  Siberian  to  the  Italian,  nay  to  an  African  latitude. 
Colds  and  snows  are  always  more  violent  in  the  prairies,  on  account 


374:  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

The  dwelling  houses  of  the  masses  of  Americans,  the  r 
food — at  least  the  provisions  for  it  are  better  and  more 
plentiful — and  their  external  appearance  in  dress,  is  aho 
more  decent  and  neat  than  that  of  Europeans.  Palaces, 
refinement,  splendor,  finish,  elegance,  luxury,  taste,  and 
genuine  fashion  are  at  home  in  Europe,  and  remain  thcie 
unrivalled.  But  they  are  the  lot,  the  patrimony  only  of 
certain  classes.  The  average  of  Americans  are  better 
housed  and  fed,  are  far  better  and  more  substantially 
dressed  than  the  average  of  Europeans.  Homespun  lu  s 
almost  disappeared,  and  the  consumption  of  various  article  s 
by  twenty  odd  million  Americans  surpasses  that  of  ore 
hundred  millions  of  Europeans.  Peasants,  villagers,  al 
most  all  the  laboring  populations  in  Europe  are  generally 
poorly  and  cheaply  clad ;  suits  of  clothes  among  them  ai  e 
hereditary,  and  women  often  principally  wear  those  of  their 
grandmothers.  If  America  is  deprived  of  the  picturesque 
costumes  to  be  found  among  European  nations,  she  has  far 
less  tatters — and  generally  only  imported  beggars.  The 
European  populations  enjoy,  however,  in  one  respect  a  i 
incontestable  superiority.  The  disgusting  habit  of  tobacco 
chewing,  which  is  so  common  in  all  social  positions  in 
America,  and  its  so  repugnant  results,  are  almost  unknown 
in  Europe,  chewing  being  limited,  with  rare  exceptions, 
only  to  sailors  and  to  the  lowest  and  poorest  inhabitants 
of  maritime  cities. 

The  love  of  show  and  of  shining,  of  keeping  up  external 
appearances,  and  of  thus  winning  consideration,  is  carried 
by  the  Americans  to  a  degree  unusual  in  Europe,  and 
above  all  on  the  continent.  The  coat  makes  the  man,  is 
proverbial  here.  The  love  of  external  show,  a  social  weed 

of  their  denudation.  So  the  destruction  of  forests  in  the  mountainous 
parts  of  France  occasions  frequent  and  violent  inundations ;  and 
now  it  is  almost  too  late  to  stop  the  freshets  and  repair  the  mischief. 


CUSTOMS,   MANNERS,   HABITS,    ETC.  375 

generating  many  evils,  and  in  its  various  ramifications  de 
structive  of  easy,  unpretentious,  sociable  life,  seems  to 
spread  more  luxuriantly  in  the  city  mansions  of  the  wealthy 
than  in  the  cottages  of  the  people.  Among  the  masses,  it 
has  partly  its  source  in  a  misapprehension  and  perversion 
of  the  notion  of  democratic  equality,  and,  in  its  more  in 
tense  development  among  the  superior  crust,  it  is  one  of 
the  signs  of  a  disease,  eaten  deeply  into  all  degrees  of  Eng 
lish  society,  and  inherited  partly  by  Americans.  Snob- 
bisnij  one  of  whose  numerous  symptoms  is  to  attach  more 
value  to  outward  distinctions  than  to  the  inner  worth  of 
an  individual,  and  to  reflect  a  borrowed  lustre ;  snobbism, 
in  its  fulness  and  completeness,  is  nearly  unknown  to  any 
class  of  continental  societies,  and  no  other  language  has  an 
equivalent  for  it,  Snobbism,  however,  generally  loses  its 
hold  on  the  great  current  of  the  American  people ;  those 
only  are  strongly  affected  by  it,  who  attempt  or  think  to 
rise  conventionally  above  the  mass. 

The  always  hurrying,  excited,  busily  occupied  Ameri 
cans  have  no  time  to  imitate  and  to  learn,  from  those 
who  are  regarded  as  standards,  the  daily  use  of  those 
most  minute  details  and  rites  of  courtesy,  whose  scru 
pulous  observation  and  exchange  cement  social  inter 
course,  and  smooth  the  asperities  arising  from  the  division 
of  European  society  into  classes,  annulling  these  divisions 
with  the  level  of  politeness.  The  thoroughbred  European 
aristocrat  is  generally  the  most  scrupulous  in  observing 
towards  his  equals,  and  still  more  towards  his  inferiors  in 
a  social  point  of  view,  those  highest  degrees  of  masonry 
of  good-breeding,  in  which  few  seem  to  be  initiated  here, 
or  to  the  fulfilment  of  which  either  time  or  habit  is  want 
ing.  In  other  respects,  when  the  Americans  are  in  a  nor 
mal  state,  as  is  the  majority  of  all  social  positions  of  the 
people,  good-breeding  prevails,  and  hearty,  intentional  po- 


376  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

liteness  marks  their  address  and  intercourse.  Intentional 
coarseness  and  rudeness  are  rare  and  exceptional  among 
the  masses ;  and  their  easy,  off-hand,  straight -for  ward  man 
ners  are  neither  ill-bred,  derogatory,  nor  offensive.  Democ 
racy  teaches  self-respect  to  everybody,  in  respecting  others. 
The  straight-forward  address  of 'the  man  of  the  West,  as 
well  as  the  often  spoken  of  curiosity,  inquisitiveness,  of  the 
American  people,  of  the  Yankee  in  particular,  are  neither 
offensive  nor  rudely  intrusive.  Only  snobs,  filled  with  su 
perciliousness  and  affectation,  shudder  at  them.  But  dis 
gusting  is  the  mixture  of  assumption,  constraint,  stiffness, 
affectation,  fidgetiness,  which  by  many  are  put  on  as  good- 
breeding,  or  as  refined  demeanor,  making  them  in  turn  rude 
or  obsequious,  as  if  momentary  and  feverish  obsequiousness 
were  courtesy  or  good-breeding.  The  inquisitiveuess  of 
the  people  at  large  is  often  a  childish,  naive  curiosity, 
striving  for  information.  The  Yankee  always  tries  to  in 
crease  his  stock  of  knowledge ;  arid,  after  all,  even  the 
cunning  mixed  with  it  is  rather  amusing  than  otherwise. 
Moreover,  man  is  normally  communicative  and  easy; 
closeness,  secrecy,  are  an  artificial  state.  They  are  a  devi 
ation  from  our  nature,  imposed  by  necessities,  by  a  per 
verted  social  organization,  but  they  are  not  innate.  The 
people  at  large,  practising  and  observing  politeness  in  their 
own  way,  seem  not  to  wear  a  heavy  harness,  while  often 
for  those  who  believe  that  they  constitute  a  superior  and 
distinct  class,  politeness  is  not  an  innate  or  daily  habit ; 
but  they  put  it  on  as  a  Sunday  dress,  or  tight  boots,  be 
coming  stiff,  uneasy,  and  hurrying  to  throw  off  with  joy 
the  uncomfortable  gear.  The  man  of  the  South,  possessing 
generally  many  amiable  social  qualities,  is  on  the  average 
more  easy,  elastic,  urbane,  and  scrupulously  observant  of 
conventional  relations,  than  is  often  the  man  of  the  North 
ern  States. 


CUSTOMS,    HABITS,    MANNERS,    ETC.  377 

Now,  as  of  old,  hospitality  constitutes  one  of  the  no 
blest  features  of  human  society.  In  America,  as  every 
where,  it  has  various  characteristics  and  modes.  Much  of 
it  is  spurious,  and  much  genuine.  Houses  thrown  open, 
or  dinners  served  up  in  rich  private  halls,  with  the  purpose 
to  overpower  the  visitor  with  costly  furniture,  plate,  or 
wines,  to  earn  his  applause  after  such  display,  and  have 
thus  one's  own  vanity  gratified,  constitutes  not  hospitality. 
Practised  in  this  way,  it  loses  aroma  and  the  convivial 
character,  being  marred  by  a  kind  of  mercantile  calcula 
tion.  It  is  no  more  hospitality,  but  a  speculation,  a  debt 
paid  or  contracted  purposely,  towards  those  who  are  in  a 
position  to  repay  it  here  or  eventually  in  Europe.  So  the 
conspicuous  social  circles  generally  pay  visits,  while  in 
Europe  every  body  makes  them.  The  genuine  European 
aristocracy,  as  well  as  the  wealthy  classes,  mixing  with  it, 
and  largely  practising  hospitality,  do  not  make  it  depend 
upon  debt  and  credit ;  the  favor,  the  honor,  the  pleasure 
bestowed,  is  mutual  between  the  host  and  the  guests. 
Hospitality  and  social  intercourse  generally  spread  a  real 
charm  when  disinterested.  Exchange  of  ideas,  genial  in 
tercourse,  stand  higher  than  a  simple  exchange  of  dinners. 

Unassuming,  hearty  hospitality  more  easily  warms  the 
roofs  of  the  rich,  who  do  not  pretend  to  whirl  in  the  vor 
tex  of  society,  and  it  is  largely  observed  among  the  various 
quiet,  industrious,  professional,  laborious  classes,  as  well 
as  in  cities  and  villages.*  American  characteristic  hos 
pitality,  as  practised  by  single  families  and  individuals,  as 
well  as  by  entire  communities  or  associations,  administer- 

*  Such  hospitality  among  many  other  instances  I  have  especially 
witnessed  and  experienced  from  C.  C.  Fclton,  professor  in  Cambridge, 
Mass.  He  counts  among  the  most  eminent  scholars  of  this  country, 
and  could  occupy  a  no  less  distinguished  position  for  learning  every 
where  in  Europe  ;  as  to  hospitality,  his  is  almost  of  the  Homeric 
stamp. 


378  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

ing  to  the  individual  sufferings  and  wants  of  thousand  * 
and  thousands  brought  to  this  country, — this  hospitality 
equals,  if  it  does  not  surpass,  what  in  this  way  is  accom 
plished  by  any  other  nation. 

In  cities  as  well  as  in  the  country,  in  streets  as  in  tins 
fields,  in  mansions  as  in  cottages,  in  large  or  small  gather 
ings,  the  Americans  show  a  different  aspect  and  physiog 
nomy  from  Europeans.  Rather  dusky  than  radiant,  bu ; 
rendered  nervous  by  the  struggle  to  enjoy  naturally  tin; 
moment,  and  by  the  fear  of  hurting  imaginary  propriety, 
they  give  the  impression  that  they  either  do  not  care  o  • 
do  not  understand,  how  to  win  from  life  the  cheerful,  con  • 
genial,  exhilarating  side.  At  such  moments  the  pan<; 
of  severe  duty  seems  to  furrow  their  brow,  rarely  am. 
only  occasionally  irradiated  with  impulsive  joyousness 
The  European  masses,  bending  under  heavy  burdens,  arc 
more  impulsive  to  merriment,  than  the  far  happier  ant 
more  prosperous  Americans.  Glee  smiles  from  under 
misery,  and  the  Europeans  are  always  ready  to  transform 
the  minutes  of  respite  into  a  gay  repose.  Song  and  danci 
are  the  friendly  fairies  of  their  toilsome  existence.  From 
North  to  South,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  borders  of  Asia 
— when  extreme  misery  has  not  dried  out  the  last  drops  of 
vitality — the  workshops  of  the  operatives,  the  suburban 
streets  and  gardens,  the  farms  and  fields,  at  dawn  and 
twilight,  re-echo  with  national  or  love  songs,  peculiar  to 
each  country.  As  neither  the  lark  nor  the  nightingale, 
so  almost  never  human  song  resounds  in  American  fields, 
gardens,  or  groves.  Cheerfulness  is  a  spontaneous  impulse, 
is  catching  with  Europeans  of  all  classes.  Americans — 
on  the  average — seem  not  to  possess  the  rich  gift  of  ex 
temporizing  pleasures.  Their  enjoyments  must  be  pre 
pared,  deliberated,  but  do  not  flow  from  the  drift  of  the 
moment.  Dance  is  for  them  a  study,  instead  of  being  a 


CrSTOMS,    HABITS,    MATWEBS,    ETC.  379 

smiling  attraction,  an  unconscious  rapture.  It  reflects  a 
mental  sultriness,  has  the  appearance  of  a  nervous  excite 
ment,  of  a  laborious  muscular  effort  and  task.  Often 
likewise  easy,  cosy  talk  in  their  gatherings  is  superseded 
by  speeches,  by  exertions  to  produce  an  effect,  to  bring 
out  themselves  rather  than  to  enliven,  to  charm  their  com 
panions.  The  art  or  gift  of  conversation,  so  general  in 
Europe,  is  not  yet  domesticated  in  America. 

Americans  stand  out  the  best  in  the  simple  domesti 
city  of  family  life.  It  is  the  only  normal  condition  grow 
ing  out  of  their  earliest  traditions  and  habits ;  it  is  their 
uninterrupted  inheritance.  The  domestic  hearth,  the  fam 
ily  joys  and  hardships  must  have  formed  almost  the  exclu 
sive  stimulus  of  existence,  for  the  first  settlers ;  therein 
they  concentrated  all  their  affections  and  cares.  Out-door 
variegated  attractions,  comparatively  recent  here,  and  pre 
viously  accidental,  from  time  immemorial  almost  are  in 
nate  to  European  life.  Religious  convictions,  local  im 
possibility,  the  limited  means  of  the  colonies,  prevented 
them  at  the  outset  and  for  a  long  time  afterwards  from  re 
curring  to  public  joyful  gatherings,  from  creating  the  like 
various  pastimes  and  forming  the  habit  and  possessing  out 
door  sociable  attractions.  The  day  spent  in  hard  labor 
or  in  professional  duties,  was  cheerfully  ended  in  the  fam 
ily  circle.  Even  now,  notwithstanding  the  rapidly  increas 
ing  wealth  and  expansion  in  large  cities,  out-door  pleasures 
seem  rather  exotic  to  the  American  life.  At  any  rate  far 
more  so  in  America  than  in  Europe,  the  family  hearth  is 
about  the  only  preventive  against  gross  and  often  degra 
ding  recreations ;  it  alone  assuages  the  tediousness  and 
burdensomeness  of  existence  even  for  the  rich,  who  often 
find  that  it  is  almost  easier  to  make  a  fortune  than  to  know 
how  to  use  and  spend  it. 

American  homes  are  warmed  by  parental  love      The 


380  AMERICA    AND    EUROPE. 

relations  between  parents  and  children,  harmonizing  in 
their  outward  manifestations,  with  certain  conditions  and 
modes  special  to  the  development  of  Ameripan  society, 
being  misunderstood  or  not  thoroughly  examined  by  sev 
eral  European  writers  and  visitors,  have  created  the  erro 
neous  opinion  of  the  want  of  parental  feeling.  At  the 
outside,  however,  the  reverse  is  apparent ;  less  filial  affec 
tion,  or  at  least  a  less  demonstrative  one  from  children 
towards  parents,  seems  noticeable ;  less  so  than  is  cus 
tomary  in  Europe.  Family  ties  seem  to  be  looser,  be 
cause  generally  Americans  bear  small  aifection  to  the  spc  t 
of  their  birth;  young  members  leave  it  or  change  wit  i 
indifference,  and  parents  do  not  make  undue  sacrifices  t ) 
keep  their  children  around  them.  Events  providentiall  / 
enforced  upon  Americans  this  unconcern,  otherwise  tli3 
task  of  extending  culture  and  civilization  would  not  Lav  3 
been  fulfilled.  Fortunes  aha  means  of  existence  werj 
small  among  the  settlers,  but  the  space,  the  modes  to  win  ;i 
position  by  labor  were  unlimited,  and  thus  children  began 
early  to  work  and  earn  for  themselves.  Thus  early  they  be 
came  self-relying  and  independent,  and  this  independence 
continues  to  prevail  in  filial  relations.  Parents  then,  as 
now,  worked  hard  and  accumulated  for  their  children.  But 
the  facility  of  early  becoming  artisans  of  their  own  des 
tinies,  of  securing  independence  by  labor,  activity,  and  in 
telligence,  in  times  and  conditions  when  no  other  pastime;- 
were  possible,  matured  and  emancipated  children  from  pa 
rental  authority  and  domestic  discipline.  For  centuries 
and  centuries  in  Europe,  conditions,  positions,  occupations, 
pursuits,  labors  have  been  hereditary,  families  have  been 
riveted  to  one  spot ;  generation  after  generation  living  in 
the  same  precincts  of  a  wall,  in  view  of  the  same  parish 
spire,  under  the  same  roof,  in  the  same  workshop,  labora 
tory  or  study.  Generation  succeeded  to  generation,  with 


CUSTOMS,    HABITS,    HANKERS,    ETC.  381 

out  breaking  the  family  group,  without  loosening  the  pa 
rental  discipline.  American  parents,  allowing  an  almost 
unlimited  choice  to  their  children,  spare  nevertheless  no 
hardships  and  pains  to  bring  them  up,  and  to  educate  them 
according  to  their  conception  of  what  is  the  best  and  the 
most  useful  for  the  mature  duties  of  life.  Parents  love 
their  children  as  dearly  and  intensely  here  as  in  Europe, 
but  exercise  less  control,  less  authority.  Further,  in  Eu 
rope  parents  part  with  a  share  of  their  property,  in  order 
to  facilitate,  in  various  ways,  the  establishment  of  their 
children  j  in  America,  where  labor  is  the  corner-stone  of 
society,  where  originally  the  fortune  of  the  parents  was 
limited,  but  a  boundless  facility  existed  for  every  begin 
ner  to  acquire  one,  parents  could  not  endow  their  chil 
dren.  This  wholesome  habit  being  still  common,  is  no  evi 
dence,  however,  of  a  want  of  parental  love. 

American  parents  are  far  more  forbearing,  nay  meeker 
with  their  children  than  are  those  in  Europe.  What  here 
results  from  freedom  or  a  yielding  disposition,  to  the  Eu 
ropean  comprehension  appears  as  irreverence.  A  slight  or 
no  constraint  is  imposed  upon  children  in  America ;  and 
as  childhood — in  virtue  of  a  cardinal  animal  law — is  emi 
nently  imitative,  their  good-breeding  depends  upon  the' 
bad  or  good  examples  which  in  various  quarters  are  freely 
set  before  them.  Children  accustomed  to  the  utmost  fa 
miliarity  and  absence  of  constraint  with  their  parents, 
behave  in  the  same  manner  with  other  older  persons,  and 
this  sometimes  deprives  the  social  intercourse  of  Americans 
of  the  tint  of  politeness,  which  is  more  habitual  in  Europe. 

In  America  children  generally  lead  and  regulate  their 
parents,  in  the  choice  of  social  intercourse,  and  in  most  of 
the  relations  and  modes  of  life.  Many  are  the  reasons 
which  account  for  this  seeming  anomaly.  Nothing  is  tra 
ditionary  here,  as  in  Europe,  and  still  less  so  are  posi- 


382  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

tions,  luxury,  refinement  of  habits  and  modes  of  existence 
in  whole  classes  or  single  families;  parents,  therefor 3, 
who  started  in  life  with  small  means — and  such  a  start  h;is 
always  been  common — -acquired  fortune,  but  had  no  tine 
to  acquire  external  refinement,  to  study  and  to  master  tl  e 
conventional  knowledge  of  society.  They  feel  the  deli- 
ciency,  and  to  make  it  up  they  surround  their  children 
with  all  external  signs  of  prosperity  or  wealth,  and  wit-h 
them  to  possess  that  art  which  they  want  themselves. 
Through  and  in  the  children  parents  enjoy  wealth  and 
standing,  becoming  thus  docile  to  their  impulsions  or  ad 
vice.  The  simplicity,  the  frugality  of  the  parents,  contras  s 
often  even  disagreeably  with  the  prodigality,  the  assump 
tions,  self-assertion,  and  conceit  of  the  children.  In  Eu 
ropean  domestic  life  the  children  even  of  the  highest  aris 
tocracy,  are  educated  with  more  comparative  simplicity 
than  is  the  case  in  America.*  Parental  authority  extern  s 
over  the  grown  up,  and  they  always  occupy  the  back 
ground  in  all  relations  of  conventional  intercourse  with 
society.  In  America,  parents,  as  well  as  persons  of  mature 
age,  are  seemingly  overruled  by  the  younger  generation. 
European  youth  of  both  sexes,  of  all  social  positions, 
from  the  wealthiest  to  the  poorest,  from  kings,  aristocrats, 
down  to  the  lowest  plebeians,  in  all  feelings,  emotions,  as 
well  as  in  worldly  concerns,  remain  children  longer  than 
they  do  in  America.  Here  they  mingle  with  society,  with 
life,  almost  from  the  swaddling  clothes.  And  so  young  un 
married  girls  give  the  tone  to  all  those  social  gatherings, 
which  in  Europe  are  under  the  exclusive  sway  of  married 
women,  of  matured  men.  The  American  custom  and 
combination  is  more  normal  and  natural  in  itself;  and  it 
corresponds  to  that  bourgeois  construction  of  society, 
which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  American  social  life.  01' 
old,  among  the  European  bourgeoisie  and  the  laboring 


CUSTOMS,    HABITS,    MANNEKS,    ETC.  383 

classes,  convivial  gatherings  had  pre-eminently  in1  view  to 
amuse  young  people,  to  bring  them  together,  to  facilitate 
marriages.  Those  who  have  already  made  their  choice 
and  settled  for  life,  abandon  the  gay  foreground  of  the 
scene,  to  attend  to  more  serious  duties.  Such  was  like 
wise  the  social  custom  of  the  colonists,  and  such  is  that 
of  their  descendants.  In  abstract  comprehension,  dissi 
pation  and  even  the  innocent  admiration  commonly  paid 
to  married  women,  and  their  forming  the  pivot  of  social 
whirling,  are  as  many  dissolving  ferments  of  the  actual 
state  of  society,  wherein  the  unmarried  girl  is  the  natural 
centre  of  attraction,  and  one  of  its  elementary  and  ce 
menting  forces.  Gatherings  organized  in  this  manner 
lose,  however,  the  charm  depending  upon  the  contact  of 
various  ages  ;  and  youth,  uncontrolled  and  paramount,  be 
comes  regardless  of  the  pleasure  of  others,  pushing  aside, 
and  often,  without  the  least  restraint,  whatever  stands  in 
its  way.  Society  in  America  has  thus  a  physiognomy  of 
freshness,  together  with  a  tint  of  harshness — being  in 
turn  attractive  and  repulsive. 

Even  in  the  serious  decisions  of  life,  children  in  Amer 
ica  enjoy  a  fulness  of  independence,  not  customary  in  Eu 
rope.  They  make  freely  the  choice  of  their  intimacies, 
then  of  their  church,  of  their  politics,  their  husbands  and 
wives.  On  the  average  far  more  marriages  are  contracted 
in  America  without  the  consent  of  parents,  than  in  any  of 
the  European  social  classes.  Aside  from  the  prevailing 
looseness  of  what  in  European  customs  constitutes  the 
parental  authority,  the  facility  with  which  one  can  create 
here  for  himself  a  position,  and  secure  the  material  means 
of  existence,  makes  the  choice  less  dependent  on  parental 
will  or  advice. 

In  the  country,  in  villages  or  farming  districts,  mar 
riages  are  contracted  with  less  regard  to  fortune,  than 


384  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

is  the  case  among  the  richer  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
cities. 

In  civilized,  Christian  nations,  woman's  influence  i* 
almost  paramount  on  manners,  habits,  customs ;  on  thei:* 
polish,  refinement,  gentleness;  on  their  interweaving  and 
regulating  social  intercourse.  Such  influence  is  normal 
and  natural;  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  pure  manifestation 
of  the  human  spirit,  and  of  its  creation-ordering  laws.  Man 
is  the  acting  principle  and  force,  woman  the  inspiring, 
quietly  efficient  and  softening  element,  the  ethereal  aroma 
filling  the  space.  Man  and  woman  complete  each  other, 
perfect  the  creation  in  its  material  or  animal,  as  in  it* 
spiritual  and  mental  revelations.  The  faculties,  passions, 
emotions  of  man  and  woman  have  one  and  the  same  focus 
and  germ  ;  they  are  equivalent  in  principle  and  in  origin 
Their  impressibilit}^  may  be  differently  graduated,  the  in  • 
tensity,  expansion  and  powei1  of  mental  perceptions  anc 
faculties  become  differently  developed,  urged,  and  uttered 
The  combination  of  these  differences  runs  out  into  the 
harmonious  accord  of  man  and  woman  as  mental  creations. 
as  the  combination  of  various  deep  and  high  tones  vibrate 
and  dissolve  into  a  musical  harmony.  Certain  capacities 
may  be  more  efficiently  developed  and  salient  in  woman, 
others  in  man;  these  superiorities  balanced  against  each 
other  raise  both  to  the  same  level.  It  is  beyond  contesta 
tion  that  woman  is  endowed  with  a  certain  intuitive  per 
ception,  with  observation,  penetration,  and  appreciation  of 
various  mental  and  psychological  phenomena,  differing,  and 
in  many  respects  superior  for  their  acuteness  and  delicacy 
to  that  of  man.  As  moral  beings  they  are  on  an  absolute 
equality.  Nature  alone  has  pointed  out  and  defined  cer 
tain  distinct  functions  for  each,  but  again  equal  in  both, 
and  resulting  in  the  harmonious  and  full  combination  of 
animal  and  of  social,  of  intellectual  as  well  as  of  material 


CUSTOMS,   HABITS,    MANNERS,    ETC.  385 

development  and  life.  Those  limits  drawn  by  nature, 
constitute  alone  the  apparent — not  at  all  the  essential — 
inferiority  of  woman  ;  beyond  these,  duties  and  rights  are 
equal,  and  the  right  of  woman  to  self-determination  in  no 
way  in  principle  is  inferior  to  that  of  man.  To  both  ap 
plies  the  same  conception,  comprehension,  and  scale  of  the 
moral  and  immoral,  of  right  and  wrong,  of  just  and  un 
just,  of  allowed  and  forbidden,  of  legal  and  illegal,  of  in 
dulged  and  condemned.  Modifications,  changes,  and  dif 
ferent  applications  of  those  rules  to  the  one,  to  the  detri 
ment  of  the  other,  are  essentially  unjust,  and  originate  in 
abuse.  Any  such  superiority  apodictically  asserted  is 
illogical  and  abnormal. 

Psychological  passional  attractions  combine  and  over 
rule  the  relations  between  man  and  woman,  wherein  the 
purity  of  the  woman  exalts  often  and  purifies  the  man. 
Where  corruption  gnaws,  as  a  general  rule  the  first  sting, 
the  first  venom,  the  first  dissolving  shock,  originated  with 
man.  In  the  present  prevailing  social  structure,  based 
exclusively  on  family,  woman,  as  wife,  mother,  or  sister,  is 
the  hearth-stone,  woman  is  the  sacred  fire,  projecting 
warmth  and  charm  over  the  inner  sanctuary. 

In  the  social  combination  of  America,  woman  as  wo 
man,  independently  of  any  social,  conventional  distinctions 
of  wealth  or  poverty,  independently  of  personal  attrac 
tions,  is  surrounded  with  more  considerate  and  respectful 
deference  than  was  ever  the  case  in  Europe.  The  source 
of  this  feeling  may  be  either  pure  and  psychological,  or 
wholly  material.  It  may  have  been  that  the  scarcity  of 
women  among  the  first  settlers,  and  their  thereby  enhanced 
moral  and  material  value,  or  the  loneliness  of  the  existence 
of  isolated  colonists,  made  dearer  to  them  their  delicate,  and 
in  their  condition  specially  life-cheering  companions.  But 
whatever  may  have  been  the  primordial  reason  of  this  re- 
17 


386  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

spect  paid  to  women,  it  softens  and  dissolves  many  asper 
ities  in  the  habits  of  men,  and  evidences  a  higher  general 
tone  of  civilization.  In  all  social,  domestic  relations  and 
combinations,  the  woman  in  America  moves  in  an  atmos 
phere  under  certain  aspects  more  elevated  and  tender,  than 
she  does  in  many  corresponding  relations  in  Europe.  Ir 
the  American  villages  and  farms,  even  among  the  pooresi 
laborers  and  workmen,  woman  is  emancipated  from  the 
field  or  garden  labor,  as  well  as  from  any  outdoor  toiling 
in  husbandry ;  while  in  Europe  generally  she  shares  a! 
the  heaviest  burdens  of  labor,  exposure,  and  hardships 
Those  relative  conditions  prove  at  any  rate  a  more  elevat 
ed  degree  of  refinement  in  the  domesticity  of  Americans, 
than  prevails  among  European  masses.  For  centuries  ol 
serfdom  and  degradation,  the  man  as  well  as  woman  of  tho 
people  were  dragging  the  sam^  yoke,  toiled  for  the  master, 
as  do  the  slaves  in  the  South.  Serfdom  and  statute-labo^ 
disappeared,  but  in  the  small  households  woman's  field-labor 
still  remained  one  of  the  pivotal  forces  of  husbandry ;  and, 
lashed  by  poverty,  she  toils  as  hard  now  as  she  did  of  old. 
In-  the  American  city  life,  the  marketing,  the  providing 
for  the  wants  and  necessities  of  the  household,  is  generally 
within  the  range  of  man's  domestic  duties,  while  m  Europe; 
these  cares  devolve  generally  on  the  wives  of  artisans, 
merchants,  tradesmen,  officials,  and  on  those  of  all  kind.s 
of  professional  men.  Only  wealth  and  elevated  social  po 
sition  exempts  the  wife  from  the  fulfilment  or  superintend 
ence  of  this  domestic  duty,  and  throws  it  into  the  hands 
of  menials. 

The  external  physical  appearance  of  the  mass  of  Amer 
ican  women,  evinces  a  prevalence  of  feminine  beauty,  but 
likewise  evinces  a  kind  of  democratic  standard  salient  in 
the  comparison  which  may  be  made  with  Europe.  In 
the  mass,  the  Americans  look  is  neater,  handsomer,  and, 


CUSTOMS,    HABITS,   MANNERS,   ETC.  387 

in  all  conditions,  of  a  less  decided  ugliness,  than  those 
on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean.  But,  likewise,  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  find  out  in  this  mass  those  classical,  perfect  beau 
ties,  pure,  symmetrical,  in  all  their  traits,  members  and 
proportions,  expressive  of  inner  emotions  and  of  physical 
perfection.  Such  women  are  encountered  in  every  Euro 
pean  nation,  in  almost  all  numerous  gatherings,  either  of 
the  higher  or  lower  classes.  Europe  abounds  and  runs 
out  into  the  two  extremes ;  between  them  stands  the  ave 
rage  of  American  women. 

Rigidity,  constraint,  even  to  stiffness,  a  certain  gCne 
or  nervousness,  are  the  more  prevailing  external  aspects 
of  the  American  women,  than  the  easy,  unconcerned  grace 
peculiar  to  the  women  of  the  Old  "World,  of  Europe  as 
well  as  of  Asia.  The  American  woman  has  the  appear 
ance  of  coldness,  founded  in  notions,  principles,  as  well  as 
in  the  temperament ;  she  seems  not  to  be  exposed  to  the 
ebullitions  of  blood,  to  those  violent  emotions  common  to 
the  women  of  the  Old  World,  in  all  nations  and  latitudes,  in 
all  conditions,  in  palaces  and  huts,  in  cities  and  villages, 
ebullitions  rendering  them  volcanic  and  passionate.  The 
American  and  the  European  women  are  daughters  of  the 
same  moral,  Christian,  social  creed  and  conceptions.  The 
same  principles  of  morality  and  duty  are  instilled  into  the 
one  and  the  other,  with  equal  purity,  with  equal  intensity. 
But  numberless  mental  and  physical  temptations,  mostly 
here  unknown,  unwonted,  or  only  in  the  bud,  are  thickly 
strewn  on  the  path  of  women  in  Europe,  inflaming  the  air 
in  which  they  move,  which  they  breathe.  There  and  here 
social  verdicts  originate  in  like  purity  of  conceptions  and 
convictions,  being  however  at  times  more  forbearing,  more 
indulgent,  in  the  elastic  Europe,  than  in  the  more  inflexi 
ble  America.  In  virtue  of  the  democratic  essence  perme 
ating  society  here,  nobody  with  impunity  can  offend  the 


388  AMERICA   AND  EUROPE. 

public  sentiment,  or  stand  so  high  as  to  almost  force  on 
society  at  large  his  bad  example.  The  contrary  is  the 
case  in  Europe,  divided  for  centuries  into  summit  and 
plains.  Torrents  descending  from  elevations  overflow  and 
carry  away  low  grounds.  Finally  the  climate  affects  the 
senses  differently,  it  is  supposed,  in  the  New  and  in  the 
Old  World.  These  may  be  the  cardinal  reasons  that  the 
American  woman  is  not  often  thus  exalted  passionately  to 
that  extent  as  to  overstep  the  limits  traced  by  the  social 
comprehension  of  morality.  In  general  she  is,  therefore, 
a  surer  guardian  of  the  domestic  hearth  and  of  its  purity, 
than  is  in  many  cases  the  European,  surrounded  by  inner 
and  outer  urgings  and  temptations,  with  inflammable 
blood,  with  burning  heart  and  soul.  The  European  wo 
man  errs  and  falls,  but  often  likewise  she  glowingly  re 
deems  her  fall  by  the  heroism  o^f  love,  devotion,  and  expi 
ation.  Vanity,  curiosity,  idleness  and  unrest,  are  among 
the  salient  tempters  which  often  carry  away  and  destroy  the 
American  woman  ;  but  the  tragedy  of  passion  glides  rather 
along  her  breast,  of  passion  raging,  tearing,  and  consuming 
the  existence  of  Europeans. 

The  intellectual  education  of  the  American  woman, 
especially  in  the  Free  States,  averages  a  higher  degree 
than  in  Europe,  even  in  countries  considered  as  foremost 
in  civilization.  The  girls  participate  in  all  the  blessings 
of  the  common  public  schools,  and  in  all  the  establishments 
of  education  scattered  broadcast  over  the  free  country. 
The  culture  of  the  mind  is  superior  and  more  generally 
diffused  among  women  than  it  is  on  the  average  among 
men.  The  majority  of  them  devoting  themselves  early  in 
life  to  practical  pursuits,  as  operatives,  artisans,  farmers, 
laborers,  merchants,  etc.,  find  their  time  wholly  absorbed, 
and  lose  often  the  scent  of  study;  while  the  women,  as 
wives  and  girls,  have  comparatively  more  time  to  devote 


CUSTOMS,    HABITS,    MANNERS,    ETC.  389 

to  study,  to  nurse  and  entertain  the  germs  laid  down  in 
their  minds  in  the  schools.  Lecture-rooms  in  cities  and 
in  villages  are  generally  more  thickly  filled  by  women  than 
by  men.  American  women,  as  was  pointed  out  in  another 
chapter,  form  the  numerous  tender  and  devoted  class  of 
elementary  teachers ;  they  largely  participate  in  the  lite 
rary  movement.  They  are  distinguished  by  the  highest 
accomplishments  of  soul  and  mind,  in  learning,  poetry, 
art.  So  the  powerful  authoress  of  "  Passion  Flowers,"  * 
by  her  philosophical  as  well  as  poetical  spirit ;  so  the 
lofty,  genial,  soul-teeming,  dramatic  artist,  Matilda  Heron. 
Scattered  throughout  all  positions  of  American  society,  are 
women  who  are  models  of  intellectual  clearness  and  sound 
ness,  of  gentleness  of  heart  and  manner.  Women  take  an 
elevated,  noble,  large  view,  and  a  warm,  intense  interest  in 
all  social  questions.  Any  reform  for  the  better  enlists 
them  on  its  side.  Temperance,  anti-slavery,  every  cause 
of  liberty  and  humanity,  is  enthusiastically  countenanced 
by  them.  If  legally,  directly  they  do  not  bear  on  the 
like  questions,  their  influence  as  wives,  mothers,  sisters, 
and  beloved,  is  powerful,  and  almost  always  elevating, 
ennobling  to  the  man.  Public  opinion,  if  not  the  law,  the 
social  habits  surrounding  women  with  truer  and  more  re 
spectful  deference  than  in  Europe,  accords  them  more 
space,  liberty,  and  a  larger  part  in  all  serious  aspects  of 
life.  And  generally,  public  opinion,  in  all  its  bearings, 
when  duly  comprehended  and  appreciated,  is  neither  con 
tracted,  oppressive  nor  tyrannical  here.  It  expands  as  does 
the  boundless  space,  as  does  the  inexhaustible  principle  of 
free  development  of  individuality  almost  unrestrained 
here,  and  paramount  to  all  mental  and  social  considera- 
tions.  Only  public  opinion  must  not  be  confused  and 
lowered  to  the  puny  verdicts  of  small  coteries  or  cliques, 
*  Mrs.  Julia  Howe. 


390  AMERICA  AND   EUROPE. 

jealous,  narrow  or  envious,  pressing  hardly  on  the  weak- 
minded,  but  harmless,  and  vanishing  before  the  self-rely 
ing. 

In  the  immense  majority  of  American  women,  when  not 
marred — as  is  the  case  in  certain  positions — loy  attempts  at 
a  kind  of  shabby  genteel  notions,  the  genial  soul-life  breaks 
mightily  through  the  apparently  inflexible  crust,  spreads 
over  the  surface,  giving  a  soft  tone  and  expression  to  man 
ners,  ideas,  and  conventionalities.  Then  in  them,  as  in  all 
truly  highbred  natural  European  women,  the  contrast  be 
tween  innocence  and  prudery,  between  genuine  inborn  gen 
fcleness  of  manners'  and  affected  composure,  is  preemi 
nently  discernible.  When  not  laboring  under  efforts  at 
representation,  when  truly  and  frankly  natural,  either  as 
the  devoted  wife  and  mother,  or  as  the  independent,  self- 
confident,  and  in  her  purity  and^innocence,  proud  girl,  the 
American  woman  is  hearty,  simple,  affectionate ;  her  im 
pulses  are  generous,  spreading  amenity  over  conventional 
intercourse  and  relations.  The  normal  state,  the  pedestal, 
the  frame  wherein  the  American  woman  of  every  social 
position,  rich  or  poor,  stands  out  the  best,  is  the  simple 
informal  intercourse,  more  than  representation,  or  the  tak 
ing  of  postures  or  airs,  be  it  in  gaudy  crowded  saloons, 
in  luxurious  boudoirs,  in  country  life,  or  in  the  simple 
cottage. 

Among  all  classes  of  society,  and  preeminently  among 
women,  considerable  confusion  seems  to  prevail  in  often 
mistaking  the  conventional  ladylike  manner  for  true  genu 
ine  womanhood.  The  word  lady  is  all-powerful,  and  ail- 
powerfully  used  and  misused  in  America.  It  is  applied 
not  to  mark  a  certain  distinct  position,  but  extends  to  mor 
als,  character,  dress,  behavior,  occupation,  pleasures.  It 
has  almost  superseded  the  use,  the  signification  of  the  word 
woman.  In  its  thus  generalized  sense,  it  is  applied  with 


CUSTOMS,   HABITS,   MANNERS,   ETC.  391 

equal  right  and  logic  in  the  parlor  as  in  the  kitchen,  in  the 
mansion  as  on  the  farm,  to  the  luxurious  and  the  idle,  as  to 
the  laborious  and  the  plain.  But  by'  its  shabby  genteel 
sense,  this  lady  and  ladylike  character  stands  often  in  the 
way  of  truthfulness  and  nature,  stands  in  the  way  even  of 
accomplishing  many  social,  conventional,  as  well  as  real 
duties,*  besides  generating  shams,  affectations,  and  all  kinds 
of  spurious  displays,  defacing  genuine  reality.  It  is  as  an 
acid,  destroying  the  suave  perfume  of  ingenuousness,  dis 
coloring  the  freshest  tints  of  a  richly  blossoming  flower. 
The  misuse  overflows  all  the  strata,  and  spreads  even  in 
literature,!  while  the  word  gentlewoman,  the  noblest  in 
the  English  language,  and  unequalled  in  any  other,  resum 
ing  all  the  purest  qualities  of  the  soul,  of  the  heart,  com 
bining  them  harmoniously  with  external  gentleness  of  de 
meanor,  is  unheard  in  conversation,  and  has  scarcely  pene 
trated  into  literature. 

Artificiality,  internal  or  external,  in  notions  or  in  half- 
formed  manners,  stiffness  denoting  or  covering  mostly  frag 
mentary  crumbs  of  breeding,  lame  imitations,  make  not  a 
woman,  not  even  a  lady.  The  best  manners  are  simple, 
not  attracting  notice,  not  striking  by  any  extreme.  High- 

*  A  farmer  in  New  England,  questioned  by  me  about  the  number 
of  cows  kept  on  his  farm,  answered,  that  he  could  keep  twice  as 
many,  but  that  his  ladies  (wife  and  daughters)  objected  to  it  on  ac 
count  of  the  increased  work  in  the  dairy.  I  could  uot  abstain  from 
saying,  that  he  would  be  better  off  if  he  had  in  his  family  true  wo 
men,  instead  of  ladies. 

f  Even  Motley  in  his  history  could  not  avoid  the  contagion.  In 
relating  the  defence  of  a  small  Dutch  city  besieged  by  the  Spaniards, 
he  extols  the  devotion,  the  sacrifices  made  by  the  ladies.  Who  ever 
used  this  word  speaking  of  the  women  of  Carthage,  Numanea,  Sara- 
gossa,  etc.  ?  Or  who  will  speak  of  Imogen,  Portia,  Desdemona,  Ju 
liette,  Rosalinda,  or  even  of  lady  Macbeth,  as  of  the  ladies  of  Shak- 
speare? 


392  AMERICA   AJSTD   EUEOPE. 

toned,  well-bred,  elegantly  accomplished  women  are  not 
stylish,  have  no  style  at  all.  Stylish  looking,  an  appella 
tion  profusely  applied  in  America,  would  be  considered 
the  poorest  compliment,  if  not  an  offence,  in  Europe. 

The  scrupulous  observance  of  rites  regulating  social 
courtesy,  their  exchange,  and  that  of  these  unavoidable 
conventionalities,  cementing,  facilitating,  and  smoothing 
dully  intercourse  between  individuals  as  well  as  between 
families,  not  only  in  relations  between  equal,  but  between 
most  distant  and  distinct  positions ;  all  these  in  Europe 
are- generally  watched  over,  directed,  and  maintained  by 
the  man.  Acting  -and  representing  the  head  of  the  fam 
ily,  as  husband  or  father,  it  belongs  to  him  to  give  the  ex 
ample,  to  him  the  prize  for  urbanity,  for  good  breeding,  to 
him  the  blame  for  omissions,  lesions,  deviations  from  or 
breach  of  established,  and  in  tl^eir  nature,  easy  and  elastic 
rules.  Almost  as  generally  The  contrary  is  the  case  in 
America.  The  wife,  the  mother,  often  advised  by  chil 
dren,  is  the  mainspring,  the  anima  movcns,  of  all  socia 
bility.  She  is  the  arch  on  which  the  law  reposes,  and  on 
her  depends  its  fulfilment.  The  husband,  the  father,  acts 
under  her  advice ;  he  is  the  deacon  where  she  is  the  high- 
priest.  The  woman,  wife,  mother,  or  even  daughter,  ex 
ercise  in  all  these  worldly  relations  an  omnipotence  and 
latitude  nowhere  conceded  to  them  in  Europe.  The  wo 
man,  therefore,  in  America,  and  more  preeminently  than 
in  Europe,  constitutes  the  charm,  the  attraction  of  socia 
bility,  animates,  sustains  integrally  its  current.  To  her 
the  incense  and  tribute,  but  with  her  likewise  the  respon 
sibility  when  the  charm  is  dispelled,  rites  omitted,  cour 
tesy  ruffled  and  bruised,  and  intercourse  rendered  knobby 
and  unattractive. 


COUNTRY   AND   CITY.  303 


CHAPTER  XHL 

COUNTRY     AND     CITY. 

IN  America,  the  country  and  city  as  constituent  social, 
political  elements  and  agencies,  stand  in  an  inverse  rela 
tion  to  each  other  from  that  in  which  they  stood  in  the 
ancient  and  in  the  European  world.  Their  respective  sig 
nifications  are  different,  and  the  difference  runs  through 
almost  all  the  fibres  of  their  multiform  development,  is 
visible  in  all  the  lights  and  shadows  of  general,  political, 
social,  as  well  as  of  domestic  life  and  intercourse.  Coun 
try  and  city  in  the  greater  part  of  their  mutual  relations 
affect  and  react  on  each  other  by  different  currents  from 
those  in  the  Old  World,  and  are  to  be  judged  and  appre 
ciated  by  new  and  original  criteria. 

The  ancient  world  was  essentially  municipal  in  all  its 
social,  political,  legislative,  and  governmental  structure. 
It  was  so,  taking  the  world  in  its  original,  strictest,  Ro 
man  or  Latin  sense.  Within  the  walls  of  the  city  was 
concentrated  the  whole  human  multifarious  development 
and  movement.  Light,  culture,  civil  and  political  rights, 
were  embodied  in  the  cities,  or  intrinsically  depended  on 
them.  Without  its  walls,  the  space  was  a  social  vacuum, 
life  in  all  its  humane  elevated  manifestations  evolving  from 
the  city.  The  society  which  emerged  out  of  the  ruins  of 
the  Roman  world  changed  integrally  at  the  start  its 


394  AMERICA   AND   EDEOPE. 

social  pivot,  transferring  power  in  all  its  character  and 
ramifications  to  the  independent  nobility  and  knighthood, 
scattered  over  the  country ;  but  this  was  another  feature 
of  privileges  enjoyed  comparatively  by  few  who  were 
masters  of  the  whole  land,  and  of  the,  in  all  respects,  dis- 
franchised  masses.  Soon,  however,  the  city,  by  various 
means,  either  as  the  residence  of  royalty,  as  the  capital  of 
the  State,  as  one  of  the  powerful  compartments  in  the  feu- 
diil  edifice ;  as  the  creator  and  agent  of  culture,  industry, 
and  commerce,  and  by  numerous  other  ways,  the  city  re 
covered  its  signification,  acquired  rights,  stood  next  to  and 
rivalled  the  nobility,  and  in  several  cases  absorbed  it. 
Amidst  all  these  changes  and  fluctuations,  no  country  ex 
isted,  politically  or  socially,  with  free  self-asserting  popu 
lations,  with  equal  rights  to  all  other  portions  of  the  na 
tion.  America  inaugurated  such  a  one.  The  country  and 
its  inhabitants  are  on  an  absolute  parity  here  with  the 
city.  The  relations  between  the  one  and  the  other  depend 
on  free  intercourse  and  attractions,  they  result  from  the 
nature  of  things,  from  their  respective  as  well  as  their 
relative  occupations.  Uninterrupted  but  free  currents 
circulate  between  city  and  country,  carrying  and  exchang 
ing  forces  and  products,  and  combining  production  and 
reproduction. 

Democracy,  decentralization,  emancipated  man,  space, 
localities,  have  created  those  new  and  equal  relations,  for 
merly  unknown  in  Europe.  In  various  preceding  chapters 
have  been  pointed  out  the  preeminent  features  and  influ 
ences  which  constitute  the  difference  between  the .  Euro 
pean  and  American  cities,  principally  of  capitals,  their 
different  action  on  the  country,  as  civilizing,  as  political 
or  governmental  agencies.  No  such  distance  separates 
country  and  city  in  America  as  existed  and  partly  now 
exists  in  Europe,  stamping  the  one  with  real  or  conven- 


COUNTRY    AND   CITY.  395 

tional  inferiority  in  comparison  with  the  other.  No  city, 
as  was  always  the  case  among  the  European  nations,  rises 
above  the  country,  or  impresses  upon  it  its  own  stamp,  in 
language,  manners,  customs,  habits,  notions,  conceptions, 
impulses,  aspirations.  No  positive  relations  constitute  a 
capital  and  a  province,  making  the  one  wholly  dependent 
on  the  other — no  social  provincialism  in  reality  lowers 
the  country  in  comparison  with  a  large  city. 

The  apparent  social  superiority  of  any  American  com 
mercial  metropolis  consists  more  especially  in  a  certain  ex 
ternal,  material  perfection  and  polish,  a  result  of  the  accu 
mulation  of  wealth  and  capital,  facilitating  and  stimulating 
acquisition,  continual  renovation,  or  imitation  of  foreign 
models.  The  extensive  trade,  the  uninterrupted  move 
ment  creating  intercourse  with  foreign  and  distant  regions, 
brings  into  exchange  their  various  creations,  and  the  cities 
are  the  first  to  assimilate  and  to  transmit  them  to  the 
country.  But  they  do  not  acquire  thereby  any  supremacy 
similar  to  that  of  European  capitals.  The  American  me 
tropolises  act  rather  as  mediators  towards  the  country, 
mediators  between  the  foreign  and  the  domestic.  The 
commercial  cities  are  no  foci  or  exclusive  depositaries 
of  light  and  culture,  where  from  those  elements  radiate  and 
spread  over  the  country ;  nor  are  they  types — as  are  the 
capitals  in  Europe,  with  royalty,  nobility,  and  concentra 
tion  as  well  of  wealth  and  of  culture — after  which  the  in 
tellectual,  moral,  and  material  life,  and  the  modes,  the 
refinement,  and  tastes  of  the  country  at  large  are  exclu 
sively  developed  and  fashioned.  Therefore  provincialism, 
in  its  extensive  and  manifold  meaning,  does  not  charac 
terize  the  stand-point  of  the  country,  in  relation  to  the  city 
or  capital,  as  it  does  in  Europe. 

The  city  of  Boston  alone  possesses  a  certain  tradition 
of  supremacy,  of  a  similar  kind.  This  was  once  real  in 


396 


AHEKICA    AND    EUROPE. 


many  and  various  aspects.  Boston,  for  a  long  time,  was 
the  real  capital  of  a  State,  and  the  mental  one  of  all  New 
England,  of  whose  wide  expanding  character  Boston  was 
partly  the  generator,  partly  the  exponent,  and  has  thus,  in 
many  ways,  marked  and  influenced  the  North,  its  develop 
ment,  and  the  history  of  the  Union.  Now,  however,  the 
spirit  which  animates  New  England  has  risen  above  that 
of  the  city,  which  has  seemingly  lost  much  of  its  ancient 
influence  and  leadership.  Nevertheless,  Boston  is  still,  to 
a  certain  extent,  the  centre,  and  radiates  still  the  charac 
ter,  the  convictions,  the  spirit,  and  the  peculiarities  of  the 
surrounding  country.  Philadelphia  never  impressed  deeply 
on  Pennsylvania  the  character,  the  convictions  of  her  found 
ers — the  peace-loving,  rational,  and  discreet  Quakers ;  and 
it  does  so  still  less  now,  when  that  spirit  has  almost  wholly 
disappeared  from  her  social  character.  New  York  like 
wise  does  not  mirror  the  character  of  its  own  State ;  and, 
with  all  its  real,  assumed,  or  conceded  pre-eminences,  New 
York  is  no  more  exclusively  a  heart  of  the  country,  of  its 
multifarious  and  energetic  vitality,  than  are  the  other  large 
cities. 

Commercial  concentration  and  supremacy  do  not  be 
stow  on  American  commercial  cities  a  paramount  position, 
a  regulating  power  over  all  social  and  political  relations ; 
and  no  comparisons  in  this  respect  can  be  established  be 
tween  them  and  certain  historical  cities  of  Europe. 

The  great  Italian  cities,  Venice,  Pisa,  Genoa,  Florence, 
and  many  others,  were  independent  sovereignties ;  their 
leading  inhabitants,  a  part  of  their  populations,  were  real 
sovereigns,  legislating  and  acting  for  themselves,  aside  from 
being  merchants,  or  industrials.  Many  of  the  leading  fami 
lies  belonged  by  birth  and  tradition  to  the  feudal  nobility, 
and  were  depositaries  of  real  power.  For  all  these  reasons 
the  name  of  merchant-prince  was  bestowed  on  them.  Like- 


COUNTRY    AND   CITY.  397 

wise  some  among  the  foremost  German  Hanseatic  towns 
were  sovereigns.  At  one  time,  Lubeck  was  the  most 
powerful  state  on  the  Baltic  shores,  warring,  making  trea 
ties,  influencing  the  destinies  and  the  Governments  of 
Sweden,  Denmark,  and  of  some  smaller  German  princi 
palities.  The  American  commercial  metropolises,  what 
ever  may  be  their  expansion,  and  the  influence  derived 
from  commerce  and  wealth,  in  all  other  aspects  are  de 
pendencies  of  their  respective  States.  If  comparisons  are 
to  be  established,  then,  for  example,  New  York  cannot  be 
compared  in  a  social,  political,  or  any  conventional  point 
of  view,  with  London,  or  Paris,  etc.,  nor  even  with  any 
of  the  capitals  of  the  second  order.  It  cannot  be  compared, 
in  that  respect,  with  the  past  condition  of  Italian  cities,  or 
the  few  towns  of  the  Hanseatic  League. 

The  city  of  New  York  acquires  and  extends  daily  a 
commercial  signification  and  influence,  which  make  her  al 
ready  the  commercial  metropolis  of  this  part  of  the  globe. 
Under  this  cardinal,  as  under  several  secondary  and  col 
lateral  aspects,  New  York,  in  character,  in  resources,  in 
original,  as  well  as  in  the  alluvial  elements  of  its  popula 
tion,  which  is  eminently  cross-bred  from  all  nations  and 
states,  in  its  ways  and  means  of  activity,  in  the  variety  of 
its  small  and  great  combinations  and  features,  New  York 
eminently  differs  from  the  commercial  metropolises  of  an 
cient  and  modern  times.  New  York  is  a  world  in  itself, 
with  numberless  small  circles,  with  elevations  and  depres 
sions,  constituting  its  distinct  and  special  features.  By 
its  population,  New  York  occupies  the  third  place  among 
the  cities  in  the  Christian  world.  Its  commerce  expands 
over  the  globe,  its  own  capital,  or  that  attracted  by  its  me 
diation,  is  felt  in  all  the  arteries  between  the  Atlantic  and 
the  Pacific.  Nearly  all  its  outward  outlines  and  tenden 
cies  are  broad  and  public-minded ;  they  denote  greatness  in 


398  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

the  aggregate,  and  nevertheless  New  York  is  eminently 
provincial  in  all  social  aspects,  when  compared  to  Euro 
pean  capitals.  The  most  diversified  extremes  meet  in  New 
York.  Gigantic  in  its  commercial  and  industrial  pur 
suits,  and  in  all  relations  depending  thereon,  and  stamped 
by  littleness  in  most  of  its  daily  and  life-interweaving  con 
ventionalities,  relations,  intercourse ;  full  of  the  genuine 
democratic  essence,  at  the  side  of  an  equally  strong  shani 
one,  and  with  some  of  its  crusts  agitated  by  the  most  con 
vulsive  attempts  at  forming  an  embryonic  aristocracy  • 
sound,  as  well  as  even  febrile  activity,  parallel  with 
stupidity  and  stagnation;  light  pouring  out  in  streams 
from  the  press,  from  the  more  or  less  perfect  scientific, 
literary,  and  educational  establishments,  and  dark  mental 
shadows  overhanging  summits  and  lowlands.  A  vigorous, 
rapid,  often  reckless  run  onwards,  and  a  very  strong  retro 
grading  tendency  •  all-cmbracii^  in  trade  and  speculation, 
and  in  social  relations  cut  up  into  sets,  separated  into  parcels 
by  the  most  artificial  notions.  Nowhere,  even  in  any  second 
and  third  rate  capital  of  Europe,  has  society  the  aspect  of 
falling  into  so  many  various,  puny,  parishional  distinctions. 
An  agglomeration  of  social  offal,  flowing  in  from  almost  all 
parts  and  races  of  the  globe ;  then  a  genuine,  large,  sound, 
substantial,  intelligent,  active  population  ;  forming  a  com 
pact  substratum,  on  whose  surface  rise  and  swim,  in  shape, 
character,  tone,  and  color,  the  most  curious,  socially-artifi 
cial  efflorescences.  Many  others  are  the  contrasts  within 
the  city  itself,  and  in  its  relations  to  the  country. 

In  the  commercial  cities  of  the  Free  States,  attempts 
are  made  at  establishing  a  kind  of  conventional,  artificial, 
parlor,  and  church-pew  aristocracy,  at  imitating  the  aris 
tocratic  demeanor,  at  borrowing  from  Europe,  and  becom 
ing  tamed  by  petty  aristocratic  notions.  The  disease 
catches  not,  however,  the  sound  substratum  of  the  same 


COUNTRY   AND   CITY.  399 

cities,  nor  the  country,  in  its  broadest  sense.  Such  at 
tempts,  insignificant  and  valueless,  would  scarcely  deserve 
to  be  noticed,  but  for  their  completing  the  salient  features 
of  difference  between  the  old  and  the  new,  between  Amer 
ica  and  Europe ;  for  their  contributing  to  elucidate  the 
soundness  of  the  democratic  essence,  deeply  and  thoroughly 
penetrating  the  country  ;  and  finally,  because  by  their  mi 
rage  those  aristocratic  shams  sometimes  mislead  in  the  ap 
preciation  of  the  intrinsic  worth  of  American  society. 

Aristocracy,  as  a  conception  or  as  a  social  fact,  wraps 
itself  generally  in  the  prestige  of  past  grandeur.  An 
cient  families  live  on  traditions  and  recollections  of  na 
tional,  as  well  as  of  domestic  greatness  ;  on  those  of  power 
and  influence  exercised  over  the  nation,  the  society,  and 
transmitted,  inherited,  from  generation  to  generation.  De 
scendants  are  proud  of  their  ancestors,  and  consider  them 
as  superior  beings  They  do  not  blush  for  nor  disavow 
the  occupations,  the  pursuits  of  their  forefathers.  "With 
the  exception  of  a  few  well-known  families  of  historical 
revolutionary  renown,  some  few  others  descending  from 
officials  of  the  colonial  times,  and  still  fewer  of  a  wholly  for 
tuitous,  or  rather  conventionally  conceded  distinction,  the 
pretenders  to  aristocracy  in  the  American  society  descend, 
in  an  overpowering  majority,  from  originally  poor  but  hon 
orable  traffickers,  artisans,  fanners,  or  professional  men. 
Noblesse  oblige  was  the  device  of  the  ancient  nobility  all 
over  Europe.  It  obliged  to  imitate  the  gallantry,  the  no 
ble  deeds  of  ancestors.  The  American  aristocrats  might 

o 

imitate  theirs  in  simplicity  of  manners,  soundness  of  sense, 
and  the  absence  of  conceited  assumption.  In  reading  the 
names  in  the  cemetery  of  a  New  England  or  any  other  an 
cient  inland  village,  or  even  the  sign-boards  over  the  stores, 
or  the  shops  of  artificers,  of  country-towns,  almost  all  the 
names  will  be  found  which,  from  one  end  to  the  other  of  the 


400  AMERICA    AND   EUKOPE. 

republic,  resound  in  trade,  politics,  literature ;  which  occup  y 
the  various  leading  positions  in  every  commercial  metropc  - 
lis;  all  this  bearing  testimony  to  the  humble  and  equal 
beginning  of  all  the  families.  Alike  humble  but  honorabl  3 
was  the  origin  of  the  American  descendants  of  the  Hugue 
nots.  Very  few,  if  any,  French  nobles  emigrated  to  th  3 
Carolinas  in  the  16th  century,  during  the  reign  of  the  Va- 
lois.  It  was  mostly  artisans,  small  traders,  operatives, 
whom  Coligny  directed  to  America.  The  nobles  remained 
at  home  to  fight  the  battles  of  the  reformation.  Not  ono 
of  the  aristocrats  of  America,  who  does  not  believe  him 
self  superior  to  his  fishing,  trading,  farming,  hard-toiling 
ancestry,  whose  start  was  small,  and  so  were  the  modes  oi 
life,  the  houses,  and  households,  and  the  trade.  Such  was 
the  condition  of  the  Puritans,  Planters,  Quakers,  Knicker 
bockers.  New  Amsterdam  was  comparatively  a  small,  un 
influential,  trafficking  spot.  *  Mostly  poor  people  fron 
Holland,  among  them  Hebrews,  emigrated  to  America  in 
the  17th  century,  and  have  been  the  primitive  founders 
of  the  Knickerbockers.*  The  new  men  and  families  whom, 
for  example,  the  Knickerbockers,  the  descendants  of  the 
Quakers  in  Philadelphia,  or  the  Bostonians,  Baltimoreans, 

*  The  descendants — now  aristocracized — of  those  primitive  set 
tlers  and  seekers  of  fortune  possess  a  rare  inventive  power.  One  of 
them,  whose  grandfather's  land  in  the  suburbs  of  New  York,  occupied 
as  a  gardener,  where  is  now  one  of  the  most  aristocratic  avenues,  told 
me  that  the  founder  of  his  lineage  on  this  continent  was  heir  to  a 
dukedom  in  Holland  ;  hut  an  uncle  and  tutor  of  his,  likewise  a  sove 
reign  duke,  seized  the  heirdom  and  sent  the  youth  to  the  American 
colony.  The  narrator  forgot  that  no  such  family  name  is  to  be  found 
among  the  feudal  records  of  Holland,  and  that  feudalism  was  over 
thrown  in  the  17th  century,  and  such  highhanded  and  treacherous 
proceedings  almost  impossible  in  Holland,  or  at  least  would  have  been 
mentioned  in  her  history.  Others  tell  stories  even  more  improbable, 
about  their  Dutch,  Scotch,  English,  Irish,  etc.,  illustrious  origin. 


COUNTRY    AND   CITY.  401 

and  other  like  parishioners,  consider  as  not  up  to  them, 
started  from  the  same  point  as  did  the  sires  of  the  others. 
The  difference  is  not  in  the  nature  of  their  pursuits,  not  in 
the  ways  and  means  by  which  positions  have  been  acquired 
then  and  now,  but  exclusively  in  chronology.  The  new 
families  and  men  carry  on  a  more  extensive  business,  have 
a  larger  and  more  comprehensive  range  of  notions,  live  in 
larger,  more  comfortable  and  elegant  houses,  and  larger 
households  and  retinue  surround  them  than  did  the  old 
citizens ;  the  new  have  equal  or  more  culture,  polish,  and 
more  means  to  procure  it,  than  had  the  old  city-founders 
and  parishioners.  The  puny  spirit  of  provincialism,  of  pa 
rish  distinctions,  is  nursed,  entertained,  by  all  these  petty 
assumptions,  whatever  might  be  their  origin  and  their  name. 
Provincialism  is  their  principal  inheritance.  The  so-called 
old  families  give  the  character  of  littleness,  which  is  so 
salient  in  the  social  relations  and  intercourse  of  what  is 
styled  the  "  best "  society  of  American  commercial  cities. 
Little,  if  any,  difference  in  good-breeding  is  to  be  detected 
between  the  "  good,"  the  "  best,"  the  "  exclusive,"  or  with 
whatever  else  denomination  the  tenants  of  an  imaginary  su 
periority  try  to  distinguish  themselves,  and  what  they  call 
the  new  men  and  families,  on  whom  they  look  down  and 
try  to  keep  them  at  bay.  The  difference,  if  existing,  is  not 
always  and  altogether  on  the  side  of  the  "  best,"  cluster 
ing  as  representatives,  and  forming  the  ornamental  portion 
of  the  conventional  social  structure,  as  it  does  the  highest 
society  in  every  European  capital.  At  the  side  of  these 
"  aristocratic  "  and  "  choicest  "  in  America,  exist  families 
of  deserved  consideration,  forming  smaller  groups,  enjoying 
quietly  and  substantially  their  wealth  ;  intelligent,  natural, 
unassuming,  and  thus  attractive  and  inoffensive.  Among 
those,  as  well  as  in  general  in  the  country,  are  to  be  found 
real  distinction,  ease,  gentleness  of  feelings,  simplicity  in 


402  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

demeanor,  constituting  genuine  good-breeding,  and  extei  - 
sive  and  various  information.  Even  good  blood — that 
aristocratic  criterion — and  often  spoken  of  in  Americ; , 
good  blood — if  it  should  be  noticed — runs  purer  in  the 
country  than  among  the  "  best "  of  the  metropolis.  ArL<  - 
tocracy  has  not  generally  originated  in  stores,  counters,  or 
in  the  gutters  of  cities.  European  aristocracies  never  hac :., 
and  have  not  now,  their  roots  in  cities,  not  even  in  capital' , 
but  in  the  country ;  and  the  high  society  in  Europe  is  sue  i 
in  reality,  forming  the  apex  of  special  but  real  rights  and 
privileges,  of  power,  of  abuses  and  prejudices,  out  of  whic.i 
is  built  up  the  European  social  edifice.  As  no  such  clear 
distinct  landmarks  exist  here,  artificial  ones  are  created  out 
of  thousands  of  ridiculous  imaginary  distinctions,  based  on 
or  deduced  from  the  kind  or  nature  of  the  commercial  o  • 
industrial  undertaking,  pursuit,  or  trade;  definitions  and 
distinctions — in  their  hair-splitting  niceties — mostly  unin 
telligible  to  the  ritualists  and  expounders  themselves. 

The  noblest  feature  of  a  genuine  aristocrat  is,  that, 
proud  of  his  individual  dignity,  his  birth,  and  blood,  ho 
feels  himself  no  more  honored  by  contact  with  royalty 
than  he  is  compromised  in  his  standing  and  dignity  by 
contact  with  the  poorest  laborer.  But  the  American  imi 
tators,  surrounding  themselves  with  whimsical  fences,  are 
continually  on  the  alert,  nervous  about  not  losing  their 
respectability  ;  true  imitators  therein  of  English  snobbisin 
From  behind  those  strongholds,  they  defend  jealously  and 
spasmodically  their  assumed  positions,  dreading  the  ap 
proach  of  any  new  face,  always  on  the  defensive  against 
new-comers,  intruders.  All  this  contracts,  narrows  the 
social  intercourse,  makes  it  uneasy;  it  contracts  the  minds 
of  those  living  under  the  like  misconceived  and  trying 
conditions.  All  of  them  vegetate  mentally  on  personali 
ties  and  petty  interests.  Wide-reaching,  general  events 


COUNTRY   AND   CITY.  403 

and  objects,  agitate  and  engross  not  these  circles,  as  is  the 
case  in  European  high  society.  Even  a  third-rate  capi 
tal  or  watering-place  of  Europe  is  superior  in  this  as 
pect  to  any  set  of  the  "  best,"  the  "  purest,"  the  "  choi 
cest,"  here.  Literature,  arts,  political  problems,  solutions 
agitating  the  state,  the  country,  all  events  calling  or  con 
centrating  attention,  are  more  vividly  felt  and  spoken  of 
by  men  and  women  in  the  country,  and  in  the  cities,  by 
those  groups  not  claiming  aristocratical  distinction,  the 
sets  of  the  "  best  "  exercising  none,  or,  at  the  utmost,  very 
insignificant  influence  on  the  public  judgment  and  opinion. 

This,  in  many  respects,  abnormal  and  unnatural  social 
confusion,  perverts,  nay  caricatures  relations,  which  other 
wise  might  be  large,  expansive,  and  truly  high-toned.  So 
the  wealthy  merchant,  who,  in  his  business  place  is  all- 
embracing,  public-minded,  generous,  and  expanding,  con 
tracts  and  narrows  as  soon  as  he  returns  into  the  region 
of  his  daily  social  intercourse.  The  merchant  princes  of 
Italy,  were  as  large-minded  in  sociability  as  in  their 
commercial  or  political  combinations,  conceptions,  actions. 
The  merchant  princes  considered  it  as  the  greatest  honor 
to  throw  their  palaces  open  and  fill  them  with  scholars, 
artists,  literators ;  with  men  of  intellectual  standing  and 
distinction,  of  whatever  kind  and  nature,  they  rivalled 
each  other  in  attracting  such  guests.  No  merchant  prince 
of  an  American  metropolis  or  any  of  the  "  bests  "  is  at 
tracted,  or  finds  enjoyment  in  the  like  associations.  And, 
should  it  ever  be  so,  he  or  his  family  would  not  dare 
to  imitate  the  Italian  and  European  models,  and  break 
through  or  overstep  the  range  of  puny  notions,  to  risk 
artificial  respectability,  and  undergo  the  disapprobation  of 
the  little  world  around  them,  and  in  which  everybody 
looks  up  continually  to  somebody  else. 

In  Boston,  however,  social  relations,  courtesies,  and  con- 


404:  AMEEICA   AND   EUROPE. 

siderations  are,  at  times,  regulated  by  deference  to  ment  il 
and  intellectual  worth  :  above  all  when  political  preju 
dices,  passions,  or  even  hatred,  do  not  cloud  the  soui  d 
sense  of  those  who  constitute  the  upper  social  circles. 

Not  the  aristocracy  of  these  cities,  but  those  movii  g 
without  its  dwarfish  orbits,  and  above  all  the  inhabitan  -s 
of  the  country,  from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  belonging 
to  all  conditions,  render  homage  to  mental  power  and  dis 
tinction.  The  literator,  the  poet,  the  artist,  the  savant, 
is  always  surrounded  in  the  country,  in  towns,  villages, 
with  consideration,  excites,  attracts  interest,  and  deferen 
tial  curiosity,  while  the  nabob,  who  throws  into  nervous  ey- 
citement  the  "  best  "  in  the  metropolis  will  remain  unm  - 
ticed.  The  same  "best"  circles  of  the  commercial  me 
tropolis  preserve  and  nurse  still  the  feeling  of  colonial  ii  - 
feriority  towards  England — a  feeling  which  does  not  ii 
the  least  exist  in  the  country*  An  occasional  arrival  of  i 
Lord,  of  any  Englishman  of  note,*  and  often  of  one  who 
in  his  own  land  had  not  even  a  glimpse  at  society,  will 
throw  the  "  best "  into  a  state  of  ecstatic  excitement ; 
while  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  remain  unconcerned 
thereat. 

Such  a  development  of  the  social  relations  of  a  portion 
of  American  society  is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  because  the 

*  During  the  last  misunderstanding  with  England  on  account  of 
the  fisheries,  one  of  the  members  of  the  house  of  Baring  Brothers, 
from  London,  visited  America.  The  excitement  among  the  "best'' 
was  intense,  as  nearly  all  the  commercial  houses  in  America  depend 
upon  the  credit  of  the  London  banker.  In  Boston,  in  public  speeches 
the  office  of  a  diplomatic,  high,  and  confidential  mission,  was  attributed 
to  the  traveller,  who,  by  his  sensible  conduct,  gave  no  occasion  to  so 
much  imaginary  distinction,  and  declined  all  such  allusions  and 
honors.  The  sensible  people  in  cities  and  the  country  kept  perfectly 
cool,  quiet,  and  unconcerned.  Such,  or  similar  occurrences,  are  re 
peated  again  and  again. 


COUNTRY   AND   CITY.  405 

same  man  and  woman  who  are  spasmodic  when  in  their 
aristocratic  toga,  are  pleasant,  easy,  sociable,  when  they 
lay  it  aside.  Then  they  are  susceptible  and  accessible  to 
all  the  generous  impulses  of  the  people.  The  aristocrat- 
ical  imitation  is  the  shadowy  side  of  the  character  in  the 
daily  relations  and  social  intercourse.  The  radiating  side 
shines  when  the  same  people  are  seen  in  their  true  Amer 
ican  nature.  Thus,  for  example,  a  woman,  a  girl,  ridicu 
lously  fastidious,  affected,  and  therefore  highly  aristocrat- 
ical  in  her  own  estimation,  in  the  evening,  has  sometimes 
spent  the  morning  nobly  in  teaching,  superintending  some 
ragged  school,  or  in  some  charitable  and  humane  occupa 
tion  of  the  kind.  Nevertheless,  the  vanity  and  affectation 
which  infect  those  regions  seems  to  spread  in  wider  and 
wider  circles,  penetrates  deeper  to  the  core.  It  begins  to 
operate  on  the  infancy.  Thus  children  get  old,  withered, 
and  distorted  notions  in  their  little  heads.  Thus  early 
in  youth  ingenuousness  is  nipped  in  the  bud,  and  the  germ 
of  gentleness  tarnished  if  not  wholly  destroyed. 

The  country  is  little  or  not  at  all  exposed  to  such  like 
aberrations  and  deviations.  Assumption  and  aristocratic 
attempts  are  difficult,  and  cannot  find  there  a  propitious 
soil.  In  the  country,  the  normal  elements  of  American 
society  are  purer,  and  have  an  easier  and  simpler  action. 
Families,  occupations,  are  all  honorable — groupings  by 
sets  difficult.  All  are  equal  and  independent  in  their 
contact,  in  their  relations.  The  cities  draw  from  the 
country  nearly  all  the  elements  of  real  or  fancied  suprem 
acy.  The  country  and  not  generally  the  cities,  and  still 
less  their  various  "  sets,"  bring  forth  those  vigorous  minds, 
which  in  literature,  in  trade,  in  industry,  in  politics,  in 
the  press,  in  professional  or  commercial  pursuits,  marks, 
develops,  and  expands  the  destinies  of  America. 

Among  the  conspicuous  American  cities,  the  city  of 


406  AMERICA  AND  EUROPE. 

Washington  has  the  purest  and  broadest  national,  distinct 
American  character.  Not  being  commercial  or  industrial, 
it  does  not  possess  large  wealth,  and  wealth  is  not  an  in 
fluential  or  swaying  social  ingredient  there.  Neither  1  as 
Washington  the  relation  to  the  country  in  which  stand  the 
respective  capitals  in  centralized  Europe.  Washington, 
however,  truly  and  largely  reflects  the  democratic  element 
of  America — the  democratic  character  of  the  people,  }f 
the  institutions,  and  the  essence  of  democratic  urbaniiy. 
Social  relations  and  intercourse  are  regulated  and  depend 
mostly  upon  the  intrinsic  value  of  man,  or  upon  what  as 
such,  is  conceded  or  recognized  to  the  individual.  Neither 
wealth  nor  any  fictitious  assumption  or  arrogant  claims  of 
superiority  of  blood  or  birth,  are  omnipotent  or  influential. 
Not  these  give  the  tone  to  society,  and  no  local  petty  in 
fluences  direct  it.  Men  coming  from,  all  parts  of  the  re 
public,  independent  and  equM  to  each  other  in  their  pub 
lic  character,  give  and  preserve  to  society  the  broid 
republican  features  and  space  wherein  every  one  movos 
freely  and  finds  his  absolute  or  at  least  his  relative  apprti^ 
ciation.  Politics  being  the  cardinal  element,  the  eminent 
political  leaders  form  of  course  the  cardinal  points  of 
attraction.  Such  leadership,  from  whatever  light  it  may 
be  considered,  is  always  an  evidence  of  certain  individual 
superiority  and  ability.  A  man  of  learning,  a  literator, 
known  in  any  way  by  his  mental  and  intellectual  accom 
plishments,  an  artist,  will  be  met  with  more  courtesy  in 
Washington  than  the  man  of  wealth,  who  shakes  the  ex 
changes  of  the  commercial  metropolis,  or  the  leaders  of 
their  "best,"  "purest,"  and  most  "exquisite"  sets.  Gor 
geous  display  is  valued  at  its  worth,  imposes  not  oppres- 
singly  on  relations  and  intercourse,  and  these,  in  general, 
are  easy,  elastic,  and  with  a  tint  of  more  genuine  refinement 
and  better  toned  than  in  any  other  American  society.  The 


COUNTRY   AND   CITY.  407 

conversational  topics  are  diversified  on  account  of  the  va 
riety  of  interests,  notions,  comprehensions,  meeting,  cross 
ing,  or  running,  agitating,  at  the  side  of  each  other. 
Courtesy,  inborn  or  conventional,  must  prevail,  resulting 
from  the  relations  of  mutual  independence  between  the 
legislators  and  the  administration,  and  from  the  broad 
basis  on  which  a  society  so  variously  composed,  stands 
and  moves. 

Of  late,  savage  violence  has  stained  bloodily  and  darkly 
the  social  relations  in  Washington.  The  disgrace  came 
from  and  attaches  to  that  part  of  the  republic  in  which  a 
perverted  social  order  perverts  public  opinion,  generates  a 
political  fury,  superseding  culture,  civility,  and  self-re 
spect  by  the  ferocious  self-will  of  the  individual.  Such 
occurrences  cannot  in  justice  be  considered  as  the  true  ex 
ponents  of  the  social  tone  in  this  political  and  eminently 
American  metropolis. 

As  the  large  commercial  cities  do  not  exercise  a  social 
or  conventional  supremacy,  or  affect  in  such  aspects  the 
tone  of  the  country,  in  the  same  way  they  are  not  the 
fair  exponents  or  reflections  of  the  prevailing  morals. 
Cities,  always  and  every  where,  contain  inducements,  ex 
citements,  to  moral  degradation,  corruption,  dissipation  and 
dissoluteness,  and  the  American  cities  do  not  differ  much 
in  that  respect  from  those  of  Europe.  The  country  alone 
in  many  respects  has  hitherto  preserved  a  superiority  over 
the  prevailing  morals  throughout  Europe. 

Where  the  democratic  principle  is  playing  in  its  ful 
ness,  America  generally  outshines  Europe  in  culture,  man 
ners,  good-breeding,  mental  superiority.  The  country, 
with  its  towns  and  villages,  and  with  the  laborious,  enter 
prising,  intelligent  and  self-improving  population,  the 
sound  substratum  in  the  cities  constitute  integrally  the 
higher  development  by  which  the  scales  of  comparison 


408  AMERICA   AND   EUROPE. 

turn  in  favor  of  America.  The  attempts  made  by  certain 
portions  of  society  to  secede  from  the  normal  American 
clement  and  spirit,  to  assimilate  themselves,  to  imitate  in 
various  ways  European  aristocracies,  are  altogether  abor 
tions.  Such  copies  are  mostly  inferior  to  the  originals,  and 
notwithstanding  their  wealth  or  superficial  varnish,  they 
are  thoroughly  inferior  to  the  mass  of  the  American  peo 
ple.  Undoubtedly  this  mass  possesses  more  varied  culture 
of  mind,  more  true  refinement  than  those  social  efflores 
cences.  Undoubtedly  likewise,  the  European  aristocracy, 
together  with  all  its  ramifications,  embracing  the  official, 
financial,  commercial,  and  industrial  highest  classes,  is  su 
perior  in  mind,  in  scientific  and  literary  information,  as 
well  as  in  exquisiteness  of  manners  to  its  American  imi 
tations. 

In  the  masses,  and  therefore  principally  in  the  coun 
try,  are  salient  the  luminous  *and  all-embracing  results  of 
American  civilization,  while  in  Europe  hitherto  only  cer 
tain  classes,  and  generally  the  cities  constitute  the  civilized 
aggregate.  The  decline  of  American  culture  and  social 
progress,  with  all  its  mental,  moral,  and  material  features, 
will  begin  when  the  interests  of  the  city  and  country,  in 
stead  of  harmonizing,  shall  be  at  variance;  when  the 
country  shall  be  sacrificed  to  the  claims  or  interests  of 
cities ;  or  when,  by  a  mistake  or  a  curse,  the  power  of 
legislations  shall  rise  and  extend  the  influence  of  great 
commercial  cities,  and  push  into  the  second  line  that  of 
the  country. 


CONCLUSION. 


THE  great  life  of  the  people,  the  unsullied  democratic  sub 
stance,  alone  generates  all  the  bright  and  vigorous  aspects 
in  the  development  of  America.  Beyond,  shadows  rise 
and  deepen.  Whatever  breathes  the  spirit  which  ani 
mates  the  people,  grows  and  expands ;  what  deviates, 
separates,  fails  to  emerge,  and  is  not  tempered  therein, 
shrivels,  corrugates,  becomes  inefficient,  incomplete.  This 
law  is  absolute.  It  controls  social  problems,  political 
and  legislative  solutions ;  it  prevails  in  education,  litera 
ture,  poetry,  arts,  industry ;  it  is  felt  in  habits  and  customs, 
in  the  relations  which  constitute  the  daily,  private,  social 
intercourse. 

Liberty  fills  the  space,  and  therein — as  the  ethereal 
bodies  in  celestial  immensities — individualities  find  their 
scope  less  restrained  than  in  any  human  institutions  hith 
erto  known.  Each  individuality  grows  self-asserting,  ac 
cording  to  its  vitality  and  fecundity,  each  moving  freely 
on  its  freely  selected  orbit.  Liberty  and  equality  are 
forces  which  impel  in  America  varieties  of  human  fami 
lies  and  characters  to  combination  and  union,  precursory 
of  the  unity  towards  which  gravitates  mankind.  Not  the 
flock-like  agglomeration  of  samenesses  and  uniformities, 
but  the  free  harmonious  combination  of  varieties  is  the 
key-note  of  social  unity. 

The  progress  that  has  hitherto  been  accomplished  by 


410      *  CONCLUSION. 

America  solves  the  question  between  authority  and  liber 
ty,  as  elements  paramount  and  integrally  constitutive  of 
human  society.  America  incarnates  liberty,  Europe  au 
thority.  America  evidences — contrary  to  time-honored 
and  still  generally  asserted  axioms — that  liberty  in  super 
seding  authority  does  not  disorganize  society.  Authority, 
in  its  various  modes  of  comprehension,  as  principle  and 
agency,  is  the  substance  of  the  dominant  ideas  and  actions 
for  Europe,  even  for  the  reforming,  revolutionary  portion 
of  it.  Here  authority  is  wholly  subordinate  to  liberty. 
In  her  all-embracing,  all-creative  activity,  liberty  alter 
nates  between  lights  and  shadows,  as  did,  as  now  does,  au 
thority.  Short  and  dim  are  the  shadows  of  liberty,  but 
protracted  in  time  and  deep  in  tint,  where  authority  is  in 
the  ascendant.  It  is  now  undeniably  evidenced,  that  in 
the  normal  condition  of  man  and  society,  liberty  is  cohe 
sive  and  constructive,  and  mo're  so  than  authority.  Here 
liberty  alone  cements  the  social  structure,  it  is  a  central 
hearth,  towards  which  gravitate  elements,  passions,  inter 
ests,  activities,  once  judged  irreconcilable  in  their  charac 
ter  and  nature.  Until  the  apparition  of  the  American 
social  state,  the  like  elements  have  been  considered  as 
chaotic,  dissolving,  disorganizing,  fit  only  to  be  compressed, 
to  be  held  sternly,  and  directed  by  authority.  Liberty, 
not  authority,  gathers,  classifies,  combines,  adjusts,  im 
parts  to  them  healthy  vitality,  regulates  their  orderly  as 
sociation.  So  almost  boundlessly  enlarges  the  range  of 
action  of  the  American  people. 

The  subjugation  of  authority  to  liberty  corresponds 
with  the  dualistic  essence  and  action  of  the  laws  of  the 
universe,  in  their  moral  and  physical  functions.  Spirit 
rises  above  matter,  ethical  laws  finally  operate  over  the 
physical.  Liberty,  essentially  a  moral  law  and  force,  ab 
sorbs  authority,  which,  even  in  its  most  philosophical 


CONCLUSION. 

and  exalted  conception,  resolves  itself  into  material  sub 
stance. 

With  liberty,  therefore,  as  sole  compass  and  pilot,  so 
ciety  can  traverse  the  inner  and  outer  breakers  and  perils, 
without  shaking  in  its  foundations,  disjoining  and  falling 
to  pieces.  Guided  and  inspired  by  liberty,  America  moves 
with  stately  impetuosity,  and  shall  so  move  undisturbed  in 
her  luminous  onward  course. 


THE  END. 


D.  APPLETON  &  COMPANY'S 


Should  it  be  impossible  to  procure  any  of  the  Books  on  this  List,  they  will  be  for 
warded  ~by  the  Publishers  to  any  address  in  the  United  States,  POST-PAID,  on 
receipt  of  the  price  affixed. 


MISCELLANEOUS, 


Acton;  or  the  Circle  of  Life. 
12mo Cloth,  1  25 

AguilarG.  The  Mother's  Re 
compense*    12mo Cloth,      75 

Women  of  Israel. 

2  vols.    12mo Cloth,  1  50 

Vale    of   Cedars. 

12mo Clotn, 


75 


ship, 


Woman's  Friend- 

12mo Cloth, 

The       Days       of 


75 


Bruce.    12mo.    2  vols.  ...Cloth,  1  50 


Home  Scenes  and 

Heart  Studies.    12mo... Cloth, 
The  above  in  uniform 


75 


sets,  8  vols extra  cloth,  6  00 

8  vols half  calf,  13  00 

Alsop's  Charms  of  Fancy.    A 

Poem    in    Four    Cantos.      12rao. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Amelia's  Poems.     1  vol.    12mo. 

Cloth,  1  26 
Gilt  edges,  1  50 

Annals  (The)  of  San  Francis 
co.  By  F.  Soule,  J.  H.  Gihon, 
and  J.  Nisbet.  Illust  with  150  en 
gravings,  and  many  fine  portraits. 

1  voL  8vo. Cloth,  3  50 

or  in  roan,  marble  edges,  4  00 
or  in  half  calf  extra,  4  50 

Agnel's  Book  of  Chess.  A 
Complete  Guide  to  the  Game. 
With  illustrations  by  E.  W,  Weir. 
12mo Cloth,  1  00 


Anderson's  Practical  Mer 
cantile  Letter- Writer.  12mo.  I  00 

Arnold,  Dr.  History  of  Rome. 

1  voL    Svo. Cloth,  3  00 

Half  calf.  4  00 

Lectures  on  Mod 
ern  History.  Edited  by  Prof. 
Keed.  12mo. Cloth,  1  25 

Arthur.  The  Successful  3Ier- 
chant.  12mo. Cloth,  75 

Appletons'  Cyclopaedia  of 
Biography,  Foreign  and 
American.  Edited  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Hawks.  1  handsome  voL  royal 
8vo.,  with  over  600  engravings 

Cloth,  4  00 

Or  in  sheep,  4  50 

In  half  calf  or  in  half  mor.,  5  00 

Full  calf,  6  00 


Library  Manual. 

Svo Halfbound,  1  25 


New  Railway  «fc 

Steam    Navigation     Guide. 

Published  Monthly,  under  the 
supervision  of  the  Eailway  Com 
panies.  16mo Paper, 

Travellers'  Guide 

through    the   United   States 

and  Camillas.  Describing  all 
the  Important  Places,  their  His 
torical  Associations,  &c.  The  whole 
accompanied  by  Koutes  of  Travel, 
&c.  1vol.  12mo 


25 


New  General  Cat 
alogue.    Svo.  pp.  242.    Paper.     25 


.  gppkton  &  Comgang's  Jjublicaiions. 


MISCELLANEOUS— Continued. 


Atlas.       Appletoiis'      Modern 
Atlas   of    the    Earth,   on    34 

Colored.       Royal      Svo. 
Half  bound, 


50 


Cornell's  New  General 

Atlas.    1  handsome  vol.  4to 1  00 

Attache  (The)  in  Madrid  ;  or 
Sketches  of  the  Court  of 
Isabella  II.  1vol.  12mo 100 

Baldwin's  Flush  Times  in 
Mississippi  and  Alabama. 
12mo.  Illustrated 1  25 

Party      Leaders. 

12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Barker  (Jacob)    Incidents    in 
the  Life  of.    8vo.  2  portraits. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Earth's  Travels  in  Africa. 
(in  press.) 

Bartlett.  Personal  Narrative 
of  Explorations  in  Texas, 
New  Mexico,  California, 
&c.  &c.  Maps  and  Illustrations. 
2vols.8vo 4  00 

Bartlett.  The  same,  in  half  calf 
extra 7  00 

The    same,  in  full    calf 

extra 8  00 

The  same,  cheap  edition, 

in  1  vol.,  bound 3  50 

Basil.  A  Story  of  Modern 
Life.  By  W.  Wilkie  Collins. 
12mo Cloth,  75 

Benton's  Thirty  Years'  View ; 
or  a  History  of  the  Work 
ing  of  the  American  Govern 
ment  for  thirty  years,  from 
1820  to  1850.  2  very  large 
vols.,  8vo.  pp.  1527,  well  printed, 

Cloth,  5  CO 
Sheep,  6  00 

In  half  calf  or  half  mor.,  7  CO 
In  full  calf,  8  00 

Abridgment  of  tlic  Debates  of 
Congress,  from  1789  to 
1856.  From  Gales  and  Beaton's 
Annals  of  Congress ;  from  their  Re 


gister  of  Debates;  and  from  the 
Official  Eeported  Debates,  by  John 
C.  Rives.  By  the  Author  of  "  The 
"Thirty  Years'  View."  Vol.  I.  (to 
be  in  15)  preparing.  Price  per  vol.  8 

Beyminstre.  By  the  author  of 
"  Lena."  1  vol.  (in  press) 

Bridgman's,  The  Pilgrims  of 
Boston  and  their  Descend 
ants.  1  large  vol.,  8vo Cloth,  3 

Butler's  Philosophy  of  the 
Weather,  and  a  Guide  to  its 
Changes.  12mo Cloth  1 

Brace's  Fawn  of  the  Pale 
Faces.  12mo Cloth, 

Brownell's       Poems.        12mo. 
Boards, 

— T Ephemeron  ;      a 

Poem.     12mo Paper, 

Bryant's  Poems.  New  edition, 
revised  throughout.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Cloth,  2 

Extra  cloth,  gilt  edges,  2 

Morocco,  antique  or  extra  6 

Half  uiorocco,  gilt,  4 

Half  calf,  antique  or  extra,  4 

Full  calf,  antique  or  extra,  5 

"       Inlvol.  ISmo Cloth, 

Gilt  edges, 
Antique  morocco,  2 
Bryant's  What  I  Saw  in  Cal 
ifornia.    With  Map.    12mo 1 

Burnett's  Notes  on  the  North- 
Western     Territory*       8vo. 
Cloth,  2 

Burton's  Encyclopaedia  of 
Wit  and  Humour.  Illustrated. 
1  large  vol.  Svo.  (In  press.) 

Calhoun  (J.  C.)  The  Works  of 

(now  first  collected).  6  vols.  Svo. 
per  vol 


'  ) 


2  00 


Sold  separately: 


Vol  1.  ON  GOVERNMENT. 

2.  REPORTS  <fc  LETTERS. 
8,  4.  SPEECHES. 
5,  6.  REPORTS  &  LETTERS. 
Or,  sets  in  6  vols.  half  calf,  20 
"      full  calf,  24 


g). 


inSCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Captain  Canot  ;  or,  Twenty 
Years  of  a  Slaver's  Life. 

Edited  by  Brantz  Mayer.    1  vol. 
12mo.    Illustrated. Cloth,  1  25 

Chapman's  Instructions  to 
Young  Marksmen  on  tlie 
Improved  American  Rifle* 

1 6mo.    Illustrated. Cloth,  1  25 

Chestnut  Wood.  A  Tale.  By 
Liele Linden.  2 vols.  12mo... Cloth,  1  75 

Clark,  L.  G.  Knick-knacks 
from  an  Editor's  Table. 

12mo.    Illustrated 1  25 

Clarke  (3Irs.  Cowden).  The 
Iron  Cousin.  A  Tale.  1  vol. 
12mo Cloth,  1  25 

Cockburn's  (Lord)  Memorials 
of  His  Time.  1  thick  vol.  12mo. 
Beautifully  printed Cloth,  1  25 

Cooley,  A.  J.  The  Book  of 
Useful  Knowledge.  Contain 
ing  6,000  Practical  Receipts  in  all 
branches  of  Arts,  Manufactures, 
and  Trades.  Svo.  Illustrated. 

Bound,  1  25 

Coit.  Dr.  History  of  Puri 
tanism.  12in<  Cloth,  1  00 

Coleridge's  Poems..  1  neat  vol. 

12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Gilt  edges,  1  50 
Morocco  antique,  or  extra,  3  50 

Coming's  Preservation  of 
Health  and  Prevention  of 
Disease.  12mo 75 

Cornwall,  N.  E.  Music  as  It 
Was,  and  as  It  Is.  12mo. 

Cloth,  63 

Cousin's  Course  of  Modem 
Philosophy.  Translated  by 

Wight.    2vois.    Svo Cloth,  3  00 

Half  calf,  5  00 
Full  calf,  6  00 

Cousin's  Philosophy  of  the 
Beautiful.  16mo Cloth,  62 


Cousin's  Lectures  on  the 
True,  the  Beautiful,  and  the 
Good.  Translated  by  Wight  Svo. 

Cloth,  1  50 
Half  calf,  2  50 
Full  calf,  3  00 


The  Youth  of  Madame 

De     Longueville.       1    vol. 
12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Cowper's  Homer's  Iliad.    Ke- 

vised  by  Southey,  with  Notes  by 

Dwight     1  vol Cloth,  1  25 

Gilt  edges,  1  50 
Antique  or  extra  morocco,  4  00 

Creasy  (Prof.)  Kise  and  Pro 
gress  of  the  English  Con 
stitution.  1  voL 100 

Croswell.  A  Memoir  of  the 
Rev.  W.  Croswell,  D.D.  1 

vol.     Svo Cloth,  2  CO 

Cust  (Lady.)  The  Invalid's 
Own  Book.  12mo Cloth,  50 

D'Abrantes  (Duchess.)  Me 
moirs  of  Napoleon,  his  Court 
and  Family.  2  large  vols.  Svo. 
Portraits Cloth,  4  00 

The  same,  in 

half  calf  extra  or  antique 7  00 

The  same,  in 

full  calf  extra  or  antique 8  00 

De  Bow's  Industrial  Re 
sources,  Statistics,  &c.,  of 
the  United  States.  Svo.  Svols. 
bound  in  1  voL Cloth,  5  00 

De  Custine's  Russia.  Trans, 
from  the  French.  Thick  12mo. 

Cloth,  1  25 


Dew's  Digest  of  Ancient  and 
Modern  History.    Svo.    Cloth,  2  00 

Don  Quixote  de  La  Mancha. 

Translated  from  the  Spanish.    II- 
lustrated  with  engravings.      Svo. 

Cloth.  2  00 
Half  calf,  3  00 
Full  calf,  4  00 


MISCELLANEOUS— Continued. 


Drurj,  A.  H.  Light  and 
Shade  ;  or,  tlic  Young  Art 
ist.  12mo Cloth, 


75 


Dix's  Winter  in  Madeira,  and 
Summer  in  Spain,  &c.  12mo. 
Illustrated Clotb,  1  00 

Pumas  (Alex.)  The  Foresters. 

A  Tale.    12tno Cloth,      75 

Philibert;  or, 

the   European  Wars  of  the 
Kith  Century.    12ino Cloth,  1  25 

Dumont's  Life  Sketches  from 
Common  Paths.  A  Series  of 
American  Tales.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Dupny,  A.  E.  The  Conspir 
ator.  12mo Cloth,  75 

Dwigbt's  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Art.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Ellen  Parry;  or,  Trials  of 
the  Hen  rt.  12mo Cloth,  63 

Ellis,  Mrs.  Hearts  &  Homes; 
or,  Social  Distinctions.  A 
Story Cloth,  1  50 

Evelyn's  Life  of  Mrs.  Godol- 
phin.  Edited  by  the  Bishop  of 
Oxford.  16mo Clotb,  50 

E  wbank.  The  World  a  Work 
shop.  16mo Cloth,  75 

Fay,  T.  S.  Ulric ;  or,  the 
Voices.  12mo Boards,  75 

Farmiiigdale.  A  Tale.  By  Caro 
line  Thomas.  12rao Clotb,  1  00 

French's  Historical  Collec 
tions  of  Louisiana.  Part  III. 
8vo Cloth,  1  50 

Foote's  Africa  and  the  Amer 
ican  Flag.  1  vol.  12mo.  Illust. 

Cloth,  1  50 

Fullerton,     Lady    G.      Lady 

Bird.    12mo Cloth,      75 

Garland's  Life  of  John  Kan- 
dolph.  2  vols.  in  1.  SVo.  Por 
traits 15° 

Half  calf,  2  50 
Full  calf,  8  00 


Gihhes'     Documentary    His 
tory  of  the  American  Revo 
lution,  1781,    1782.    1  vol.    8vo. 
Clotb, 

The  same.    2d  yol.    1764  to 

1vol.    8vo Cloth, 


1776. 


1  EO 

1  5? 

1  0) 


Ghostly     Colloquies.     By    the 

Author  of  "  Letters  from  Rome," 
&c.  12mo Cloth, 

Gil  Bias.  Translated  from  the 
French  by  Le  Sage.  Illustrated 
with  over  500  spirited  engravings. 

1  large  vol.  8vo Extra  cloth, 

Gilt  edges,  3  0" 
Half  calf,  3  5( 
Full  calf,  4  0( 

Gilfillan,  Geo.  Gall«-y  of 
Literary  Portraits-  Second 
fceries.  12mo Cloth,  1  OC 

Goddard's  Gleanings.  Some 
Wheat— Some  Chaff.  12mo. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Goethe's  Iphigenia  in  Taiiris. 

A  Drama  in  Five  Acts.  Trans 
lated  from  the  German  by  C.  J. 
Adler.  12mo Boards,  75 

Goldsmith's  Vicar  of  Wake- 
field.    12mo.     Illustrated.    Cloth,      75 
Gilt  edges,  1  00 

Gore,  Mrs.  The  Dean's 
Piughter.  12mo. Cloth,  75 

Gould's  (W.  M.)  Zephyrs 
from  Italy  and  Sicily.  12mo. 

Colored  plate,  1  00 

Grant's  Memoirs  of  an  Ameri 
can  Lady.  12mo Clotb,  75 

Griffith's      (Mattie)       Poems. 

12mo Cloth,      75 

Gilt  edges,  1  25 

Guizot's  History  of  Civiliz 
ation.  4  vols.  12mo Cloth,  3  50 

Half  calf,  8  00 

— Democracy  in  France. 
12uio Paper,      25 


g.  gippleioix  tfc  Compaq's 


MISCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Gurowski's  Russia  As  It  Is. 
1  vol.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Hnll,  B.  R.  The  New  Pur 
chase  ;  or,  Early  Years  in  the 
Far  West.  Illustrated.  12mo. 

Cloth,  1  25 

Harry  Muir.  A  Scottish 
Story.  12mo Cloth,  75 

Hamilton's  Philosophy.  Ar 
ranged  and  Edited  by  O.  W. 
Wight.  1  vol.  Svo Cloth,  1  50 

The  Same,  in  full  calf,  3  00 


Heartsease  ;  or,  The  Brother's 

Wife.    By  the  Author  of  "  The 
Heir  of  Redclyffe."   2  vols.    12mo. 

Cloth,  1  50 

HeirofRedclyffe(The).  A  Tale. 
2  vols.  12mo Cloth,  1  50 

Heloise  ;  or,  The  Unrevcaled 

Secret.    By   Talvi.     12mo 

Cloth,      75 

Holraes's  Tempest  and  Sun 
shine  ;  or,  Life  in  Kentucky. 
12mo Cloth,  1  00 

-    The     English      Or 
phans.    A  Tale.    12mo.      Cloth,      75 

Home  is  Home  A  Domestic 
Story.  12mc Cloth,  75 

Home ;  or,  The  Ways  of  the 
World.  By  Mrs.  Beeves.  1  vol. 
(In  press.) 

Household  Mysteries.    By  the 

Author  of  "Light  and  Darkness." 

1  vol.    12mo 1  00 

Hunt's  Pantological  System 
oi  History.  Folio, Cloth,  3  00 

Iconographic  Cyclopaedia  of 
Science,  Literature,  and 
Art,  Systematically  Ar 


ranged.  Illustrated  with  500  fine 
steel   plate    engravings.     6    vols. 

Half  morocco,  40  00 

Or  in  full  morocco, 50  00 

Or  in  separate  divisions : — 

The  Lav»s  of  Nature}  or, 
Mathematics,  Astronomy, 
Physics,  and  Meteorology 
Illustrated.  "With  an  Atlas  of 
twenty-nine  steel  plates,  containing 
twelve  hundred  illustrations.  2 
vols. Cloth,  5  00 

The  Sciences ;  or,  Chemistry, 
Mineralogy ,  and  Geology  Il 
lustrated.  With  an  Atlas  of 
twenty-four  steel  plates,  containing 
one  thousand  illustrations.  2  vols. 

Cloth,  8  00 

The  Anatomy  of  the  Iliiniau 
Body}  or,  Anthropology  Il 
lustrated.  With  an  Atlas  of 
twenty-two  steel  plates,  containing 
six  hundred  illustrations.  2  vols. 

Cloth,  3  00 

The  Countries  and  Cities  of 
the  World;  or,  Geography 
Illustrated.  Including  a  Com 
plete  German  and  English  Geo 
graphical  Glossary.  With  an  Atlas 
of  forty -four  steel  plates,  containing 
Geographical  Maps  and  Plans  of 
Cities.  2  vols. Cloth,  5  00 

The  Customs  and  Costumes  of 
People  of  Ancient  and  Mod 
ern  Times ;  or,  History  and 
Ethnology  Illustrated.  With 
an  Atlas  of  eighty-one  steel  plates, 
containing  fourteen  hundred  illus 
trations.  2  vols. Cloth,  8  00 

The  Warfare  of  All  Ages  ;  or, 
Military  Sciences  Illustrat 
ed.  With  an  Atlas  of  fifty-one 
steel  plates,  containing  fifteen  hun 
dred  illustrations.  2  vols..  .Cloth,  b  00 


's  |jnblicaii0ni. 


The  Navigation  of  All  Ages; 
or,  Naval  Science  Illustrat 
ed.  With  an  Atlas  of  thirty-two 
steel  plates,  conta  uins  six  hundred 
illustrations.  2  volb  Cloth,  4  00 

The  Art  of  JSiiildin.  in  An 
cient  and  Modern  1  'uiea  ; 
or,  Architecture  Hlustrai. 

ed.  With  an  Atlaf  of  sixty  steel 
plates,  containing  1100  illustrations. 
2  vols Cloth,  G  00 

The  Religions  of  Ancient  and 
Modern  Times  ;  or,  Mythol 
ogy  Illustrated.  With  an 
Atlas  of  thirty  steel  plates,  contain 
ing  eight  hundred  illustrations.  2 
vols Cloth,  4  00 

The    Fine    Arts     Illustrated. 

Being  a  Complete  History  of  Sculp 
ture,  Painting,  and  the  Graphic 
Arts,  including  a  Theory  of  the 
Art  of  Drawing.  With  an  Atlas  of 
twenty-six  steel  plates,  containing 
five  hundred  illustrations.  2  vols. 

Cloth,  4  00 

Technology  Illustrated.  Being 
a  Series  of  Treatises  on  the  Con 
struction  of  Eoads.  liridges,  Canals, 
Hydraulic  Engine:,  Flouring  and 
Spinning  Mills,  and  on  the  Prin 
cipal  Proceedings  in  Cotton  Manu 
facture,  Coining,  Mining,  Me 
tallurgy,  Agriculture,  &c.  With 
an  Atlas  of  thirty -five  steel  plates, 
containing  1,100  engraving*  2 
vols Cloth,  4  00 

A  very  few  copies  only  remain  of  the 
(tlove.    Early  orders  are  neces 
sary  to  secure  them. 


MISCELLANEOUS— Continued. 

James,  Henry. 


IO.  A  Tale  of  the  Ancient 
Fane.  By  Bartori.  12mo.  Cloth,  75 

Irish  (The)  Abroad  and  at 
Home,  at  the  Court  and  in 
the  Camp.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Isham's  Mud  Cabin  ;  or,  Char 
acter  and  Tendency  of  Brit 
ish  Institutions.  12mo.  Cloth,  1  00 


The  Nature 
of  Evil,  considered  in  a 
Letter  to  the  Rev.  Edward 
Beecher,  D.D.  1  vol.  ICmo. 

Cloth,  1  00 

James,  G.  P.  R.  and  M.  B. 
Field.  Adrien;  or,  The 
Clouds  of  the  Mind.  12mo. 

Cloth,      75 

Jameson  (Mrs.)  €0111111011- 
olace  Book  of  Thoughts, 
Memories,  and  Fancies. 

12mo Cloth,      75 

Half  calf  extra,  1  75 

Johnson,  A.  B.  The  Meaning 
of  Words.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Johnston's  Chemistry  of  i.'om- 
mou  Life.  Illustrated  with  nv. 
me^ous  -woodcuts.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Cloth,  2  i.o 

In  sheep,  2  25 

In  half  calf,  4  00 

Juno  Clifford.    A  Tale.     By  a 

Lady.    With  illustrations.    12mo. 

Cloth,  1  25 

Kavanagh,  Julia.  Women  of 
Christianity,  Exemplary  for 
Piety  and  Charity.  12mo. 

Cloth,      75 

Nathalie.    A  Tale. 

12rno Cloth,  1  00 

Madeleine.      12mo. 

Cloth,      75 
Daisy  Burns.  12mo. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Grace  Lee.  ..Cloth,  1  ()i) 

Rachel  Gray.  12mo. 

Cloth,  0  75 

The  same.    C  volumes. 

Half  calf,  10  00 

Keats'  Poetical  Works.   1  vol. 

12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Gilt  edges,  1  50 
Antique  or  extra  morocco,  3  50 


MISCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Kirkland  (Mrs.)  Personal 
Memoirs  of  George  Wash 
ington.  1  vol.  12mo.  Illus 
trated (In  press.) 

Kccppeii.  Atlas  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  "With  copious  illustrative 
Text  4to Half  bound,  4  50 


History       of 


the 


Middle  Ages.     2  vols.    12mo. 

Clotb,  2  00 


Atlas  to      do.    Cloth,  2  50 


Kohlrausch's  Complete  His 
tory  of  Germany.  8vo.  Clotb,  1  50 

A  New  Edition. 

Illustrated Extra  Binding.  2  50 

L  aiiuir  line's  History  of 
Turkey.  VoL  1.  12mo.  Cloth,  1  00 

Layard's  Nineveh  and  its  Re 
mains.  1  large  vol.  8vo.,  with  all 

the  illustrations Cloth,  4  00 

Half  calf,  5  00 

The  Same.    1  vol.  12mo., 

without  the  illustrations Cloth,  1  00 

Lee,  E.  B.  Life  of  Jean  Paul 
F.  Richter.  12mo Cloth,  1  25 

Leger's  History  of  Animal 
Magnetism.  12mo Clotb,  1  00 

Letters  from  Rome,  A.  D. 
138.  By  the  Author  of  "  Clouds 
and  Sunshine."  12ino Cloth,  1  00 

Life  and  Correspondence  of 
Judge  Iredell (In  press.) 

Life's  Discipline.  A  Tale  of 
the  Annals  of  Hungary.  By 

Talvi.    Author  of  "  Heloise,"  &c. 
12mo Cloth,      63 

Lindsay.  Poems  by  Walter 
M.Lindsay.  16tno Cloth,  75 


Lord,  W.  W. 


Poems.     12mo. 

Boards, 


Lord,AV.  AV.  Christ  in  Hades. 
12mo Boards,      75 

Macaulay's    Essays,  Critical 
and     Miscellaneous.       Best 
Edition.  5  vols.  small  8vo.    Cloth,  3  75 
Half  calf  extra,    S  00 
Full  calf  extra,  10  00 

Macintosh,  31.  J.  Two  Lives ; 
or,  To  Seeni  and  To  Be.  12mo. 

Cloth,      75 


12mo. 


-Aunt  Kitty's  Tales. 
Cloth, 


Charms  «fc  Counter 

Charms Cloth,  1  00 


Evenings  at   Don 


aldson  Manor.    12mo.... Cloth,      75 


The     Lofty     and 


Lowly.    2  vols.    12mo Cloth,  1  50 

The  above,  in  uniform  sets,  6  vols., 
half  calf  extra,...., 10  00 

3IcCormick's  Visit  to  the 
Camp  before  Sebastopol. 

Neatly  illustrated.     12mo... Cloth,  1  00 

McLee's  Series  of  Alphabets, 
designed  as  a  Text-Book 
for  Engravers  and  Painters 
of  Letters.  4to Cloth,  2  00 

Mahon's  (Lord)  History  of 
England.  Edited  by  Professor 
Eeed.  2  vols.  8vo 400 

Manzoni.  The  Betrothed 
Lovers.  2  vols.  12mo... Clotb,  1  50 

Margaret  Cecil;  or,  I  Can, 
Because  I  Ought.  By  Cousin 


Kate.    12mo 


.Cloth,      75 


Marrying  Too  Late.    By    Geo. 

Wood.     Author  of  "  Peter  Schle- 
mihl  in  America,"  &c.,  &c.    1  vol. 

(In  press.) 


MISCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Marsh's  Theory  and  Practice 
of  Bank  Book-Keeping  and 
Joint  Stock  Accounts.  1  vol. 
4to.  Printed  in  colors 4  00 

Maxims  of  Washington.  Se 
lected  from  bis  own  Writings.  By 
Eev.  J.  F.  Schroeder,  D.D.  12mo. 

Cloth,  1  00 
Gilt  edges,  1  50 

3Ieek's  lied  Eagle.  A  Poem  of 
the  South.  12mo Cloth,  75 

or?  in  extra 

cloth,  gilt  edges, 1  00 

Memorials  of  the  Dead  in 
Boston.  12mo Cloth,  1  50 

Michelet's  History  of  France. 
2  vols.  8vo Cloth,  3  50 

History  of  Roman 

Republic.    12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Millcdiilcia ;  a  Thousand 
Pleasant  Things  Selected 
from  the  "  Notes  and 
Queries."  (In  press.) 

Milton's  Paradise  Lost.  ISmo. 

Cloth,  0  83 
Cloth  gilt,      50 

Minnie  Myrtle.  Thelroquois ; 
or,  Bright  Side  of  Indian 
Character.  Illustrated.  12ino. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Montgomery's  Sacred  Poems 
and  Hymns,  for  Pablic  and 
Private  Devotion.  12mo. 

Cloth,  0  75 
Morocco  antique,  or  extra,  2  50 

Moore,  C.  C.  Iiife  of  George 
Castriot,  King  of  Albania. 
12ino Cloth,  1  00 

Moore's  (Frank)  Songs  and 
Ballads  of  the  American 
Revolution.  With  Notes  and 

illustrations.    12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Or,  in  morocco  antique,  B  00 


Moore's  (Thos.)  Memoirs, 
Journals,  «fc  Correspond 
ence.  Edited  by  Lord  John 
Eussell.  Nos.  I.  to  XI.  Complete. 

In  paper,  each,      25 
Or,  in  1  vol.  cloth,  3  00 

Morse's  General  Atlas  of  the 
World.  Containing  seventy 
Maps,  drawn  and  engraved  from 
the  latest  and  best  authorities,  with 
Descriptions  and  Statistics  of  all 
Nations  to  the  year  1S56.  1  vol. 
4to,  half  bound, 9  00 

Morton  Montagu;  or,  Young 
Christian's  Choice.  By  C. 

B.Mortimer.    12mo Cloth,      75 

Napoleon.  The  Confidential 
Correspondence  of  Napoleon 
Bonaparte  with  his  Brother 
Joseph,  some  time  King  of 
Spain.  2  vols.  12mo Cloth,  2  00 

The  same.  2  vols. 

Half  calf,  4  00 

Napoleon,  Liife  of.  From  the 
French  of  Laurent  de  1'Ardeche. 
2  vols.  in  1.  Svo.  500  cuts,  some 
colored Irn.  morocco,  3  00 

Newport  Illustrated,  in  a  Series 
of  Pen  and  Pencil  Sketches.  12mo. 

Cloth,      50 

Norman  Lieslie.  A  Tale.  By 
G.C.  H.  12mo Cloth,  75 

Nursery  Basket  (The).  A  Hand- 
Book  of  Practical  Directions  for 
Young  Mothers.  ISmo Cloth,  38 

Gates,  Geo.  Interest  Tables 
at  6  per  cent,  per  annum. 
Svo 2  00 

Abridged  Edition,...  1  25 


Interest     Tables 

at   7   per   cent,  per  Annum. 
Svo 2  00 

. Abridged  Edition,  . .  1  25 


g. 


&  C-omjjHrnj'g 


MISCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Osgood.  The  Hearth-Stone ; 
or,  Home  Truths  from  a  City 
Pulpit.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Gilt  edges,  1  25 

Illustrated  new  edition,.  1  25 

Gilt  edges,  1  50 

Mile-Stones    in    our 

Life  Journey.     12mo.    Cloth,  1  00 
Gilt  edges,  1  25 

Parkyn's  Savage  Life  in  Abys- 
synia.  With  illustrations.  2  vols. 

12mo Cloth,  2  50 

Ditto,  cheap  edition,  in  1  vol.  Cloth,  1  50 

Pell's  Guide  for  the  Young. 
12mo. Cloth,  38 

Gilt  edges,      50 

Perry's  Narrative  of  the  Ex 
pedition  of  an  American 
Squadron  to  the  China  Seas 
and  Japan,  performed  in 
the  Years  1S52,  1853,  and 
^  S-3  1 ,  by  order  of  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States. 
Compiled  from  the  Original  Notes 
and  Journals.  By  Francis  L. 
Hawks,  D.D.  1  vol.  8vo.,  with 

numerous  illustrations. Cloth,  5  00 

Half  calf,  6  00 
Full  calf,  7  00 
Morocco,  8  00 

The  Same,  carefully 

abridged  f..:  District  School  Libra 
ries  and  Young  People.  1  neai 
vol.  12mo.,  illustrated.  (Just  ready.) 

Phcenixiana ;  or,  Sketches 
and  Burlesques.  By  John 
Phoenix.  Illustrated.  12mo.  Cloth,  1  00 

Pinkney's  (Win.)  Life.  By  his 
Nephew.  1  voL  8vo Cloth.  2  00 

Pickell's  New  Chapter  in  the 
Early  Life  of  "Washington 
in  connection  with  the  Nar 
rative  History  of  the  Po 
tomac  Company.  1  vol.  8vo. 

Cloth,  1  25 


Porter's  (Miss  Jane)  Scottish 
Chiefs.  A  Romance.  New 

and  handsome  edition,  in  1  large 
vol.  8vo.,  with  engravings... Cloth,  1  JO 
In  extra  roan,  marb.  edges,  2  )0 

Prismatics  (Tales  and  Poems  ) 

By    Richard   Haywarde.      12mo. 
Illustrated. 1  25 

Republic  of  the  United  States : 
Its  Duties,  &c.  12mo.  Cloth,  1  00 

Reid's  New  English  Diction 
ary,  with  Derivations.  12mo. 

Sheep,  1  00 

Robinson  Crusoe.  Only  com 
plete  edition.  Illustrated  with  300 
Cuts.  8vo 1  50 

In  gilt  edges,  1  75 
.  Half  calf,  3  00 

Rogers.  Recollections  of  the 
Table-Talk  of  Samuel  Ro 
gers.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Roe,  A.  S.  James  Mountjoy ; 
or,  I've  been  Thinking. 
12mo Cloth,  75 

Time    and      Tide. 

12mo Cloth,      75 

Reuben  Medlicott;  or,  The 
Coining  Man.  12mo Cloth,  75 

Sampson's  Brief  Kemarker 
on  the  Ways  of  Man.  Essays 
and  Sketches  of  Life.  12mo.  Cloth,  1  25 

Scott's  Lady  of  the  Lake. 
16mo Cloth,  33 


Marmion.    16mo.  Cloth,      87 

Lay  of  the  Last  Min 
strel Cloth,  25 

Schwegler's  History  of  Phil 
osophy.  Translated  from  the 
original  German  by  Julius  H. 
Seelye.  12mo l  25 


.  gppkton  $  Company's 


MISCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Select       Italian 

Translated.    12mo.. 


Comedies. 
Cloth, 


Sewell,    E.    M.      The    Earl's 
Daughter.     12mo. Cloth, 


Spectator  (The).    A  new  edition, 
carefully  revised.  6  large  vols.  8vo. 

Fine  bold  type Cloth,  9  00 

Half  calf,  15  00 

Calf,  20  00 


Amy  Herbert.  A  Tale. 


12mo Cloth,      75 


Gertrude.      A     Tale. 

12mo Cloth 


Laneton     Parsonage. 


A  Tale.    3  vols.    12mo.     Cloth,  2  25 

Margaret  Percival.  '2 

vols Cloth,  1  50 

—  Experience    of    Life. 
12mo Cloth,      75 


Walter  Lorimer,  and 

other  Tales.  12mo.  Illustrated. 

Cloth,      75 

Katharine  Ashton.     2 

vols.    12mo Cloth,  1  50 


Journal  Kept  for  the 


Children  of  a  Village  School. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Shakspeare's     Dramatic 
Works  and  Life.    1  vol.    8vo. 

Cloth,  gilt  edges  2  00 


Soyer's      Modern      Domestic 
Cookery.    12mo Bound,  1  00 


Soiithey's     Life      of 
Cromwell.    ISmo — 


Oliver 

...Cloth, 


88 


Sonthgate  (Bishop).  Visit  to 
the  Syrian  Church.  12mo.  . .  1  00 

Souvestre's  Attic  Philosopher 
in  Paris.  12ino Cloth, 

Stray  Leaves  from 

a  Family  Journal.  With  illus 
trations.     12mo Cloth, 

Sprague's  History  of  the 
Florida  War.  Map  and  Plates. 
8vo 250 


A  tmaller  Edition,  in  4 

vols.    12mo. Cloth,  8  50 

Half  calf, 
Full  calf, 

Spalding's  History  of  English 
Literature.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Squier's  Nicaragua,  Its  Peo 
ple,  Antiquities,  &c.  Maps 
and  Plates.  2  vols.  8vo 4  00 


The  Same.    2  vols.  in  1. 


Cloth,  or  imperial  morocco,  3  50 


r  Land  (The).  A  Sou 
thern  Story.  By  a  Child  of  tho 
Sun.  Ivol  .................  Cloth,  75 

Sweet,  Dr.    Treatise  on   the 
Diseases  of  the  Chest.     8vo.  3  00 

Tappan's  (Prof.)  Logic.    New 

and  entirely  revised  edition.  12mo. 

Cloth,  1  25 


Steps  from  the  New 

World  to  the  Old,  and  Back 
Again.    2  vols.    12mo Cloth,  1  75 

Thorpe's  The  Hive  of  the 
Bee-Hunter.  16mo.  Illustrat 
ed. Cloth,  1  00 

Taylor*s  Manual  of  Ancient 
and  Modern  History.  Edited 

by  Prof.  Henry.    8vo Cloth,  2  25 

Sheep,  2  50 


Modern 


separate.. 


History. 
Cloth,  1  50 


Ancient 


do.        do. 

Cloth,  1  2J 


Thackeray's  Dr.  Birch  and 
his  Young  Friends.  Square 
12mo 


75 


§* 


#  Company's  publications, 


II 


MISCELLANEOUS-Continued. 


Thackeray's  Popular  Works. 

12  vols.  16mo Red  cloth ,  each      50 

The  Same.  12 mo.    Extra 

brown  cloth,  each,      63 
The  Same.    Bound  in  6 

vols Kich  blue  cloth,  6  00 

The  Same.    Bound  in  6 

vols Half  calf  extra,  12  00 

The  Same.    Bound  in  12 

vols Half  calf  extra,  15  00 

Tliiers*    French    Revolution. 

New  edition,  with  steel  engravings. 

4  vols Cloth,  5  00 

Or,  in  sheep,  6  00 
Half  calf  extra,  10  00 

A  cheaper  edition,  in  2 

vols.  Svo Cloth,  3  00 

Sheep,  4  00 

Tuckerman's  Artist  Life.  Bio 
graphical  Sketches  of  American 
Painters.  12mo Cloth,  75 

Virginia  Comedians  (The);  or, 
Old  Days  in  the  Old  Do 
minion.  2  vols.  12mo.... Cloth,  1  50 

Ward's  English  Items.    12mo. 

Cloth,  1  00 

Warner's  (Miss)  The  Hills  of 
the  Shateinuc.  1  voL  12mo..  1  25 

Warner    (Miss    A.     B.)      My 

Brother's  Keeper.     A  Tale. 
12mo. Cloth,  1  00 

White  (R.  G.)    Shakspeare's 

Scholar.    1  vol.    Svo Cloth,  2  50 

The  Same.  In  half  calf  extra,  8  50 

The  Same.  In  half  inor.  extra.  3  50 


Whitehead's  Contributions  to 
the  Early  History  of  Perth 
Amboy  and  Adjoining 
Country.  Svo.  Maps  and  illus 
trations, Cloth,  2  75 


Williams'  Isthmus  of  Tehu- 
antepec,  its  Climate,  Pro 
ductions,  &c.  Numerous  Maps 
and  Plates.  2  vols.  Svo Cloth,  3  50 

Wilson's  Elementary  Treatise 
on  Logic.  12mo. Cloth,  1  25 

Winkles  (The) ;  or,  the  Merry 
Monomaniacs.  12mo.  .Cloth,  1  00 

Woman's  Worth;  or,  Hints 
to  Raise  the  Female  Char 
acter.  By  a  Lady.  ISmo 

Cloth,      33 

Warner's  Rudimental  Les 
sons  in  Music.  ISmo.  ..Cloth,  50 

Wordsworth,  W.  The  Pre 
lude.  An  Autobiographical  Poem. 
12mo. Cloth,  1  00 

Wanderings  and  Fortunes  of 
German  Emigrants.  12mo. 

Cloth,      75 

Yonge's  (Miss)  Works. 

Heir  of  Redclyffe.  2  vols. 

12ino Cloth,  1  50 

Heartsease.       2  vols... 

12mo Cloth,  1  50 

The  Daisy  Chain;  or, 

Aspirations .    A  Family  Chron 
icle.    2  vols.    12mo Cloth,  1  50 


The    Castle    Builders. 

12mo Cloth, 

Richard  the  Fearless. 

Cloth, 


•  The   Two  Guardians. 

Cloth, 


75 


Kenneth ;       or, 


Rear  Guard. 


The 

.Cloth, 


Lances    of  Lynwood. 


16mo Cloth,      75 


§• 


&  Company's  publications. 


SCIENTIFIC  WOEKS. 


Appleton.  Dictionary  of  Me 
chanics,  Machines,  Engine 
Work,  and  Engineering, 

containing  over  4000  illustrations, 
and  nearly  2000  pages.  Complete 
in  2  vols.  large  Svo.  Strongly  and 
neatly  bound 12  00 

—  Mechanics'      Maga 
zine  &  Engineers'  Journal. 

Vols.  I.,  II.  and  III.  for  1851-'52- 

'53 Cloth,  each  3  50 

Appletons'  Cyclopaedia  of 
Drawing,  for  Engineers, 
Mechanics,  and  Architects. 

Edited  by  W.  E.  Worthen.  1  vol. 
royal  Svo (In  press.) 

Allen's     Philosophy    of     the        „* 
Mechanics  of  Nature.    Illns. 
Svo. 3  50 

Arnot,  D.  II.  Gothic  Archi 
tecture.  Applied  to  Modern 
Residences.  40  plates.  1  vol.  4to.  4  00 

Artisan  Club.  Treatise  on  the 
Steam  Engine.  Edited  by  J. 
Bourne.  S3  plates,  and  349  En 
gravings  on  wood.  4to 6  00 

Barnard's  Theory  of  Land 
scape  Painting  in  Water 
Colors.  With  24  colored  plates. 

Extra  cloth  gilt,  5  00 

Bartol's  Treatise  on  the 
Marine  Boilers  of  the 
United  States.  Svo Cloth,  1  60 

Bassnctt's  Theory  of  Storms. 
1  vol.  12mo Cloth,  1  00 

Bourne,  John.  A  Catechism 
of  the  Steam  Engine.  ICmo. 

Cloth,      75 

Treatise  on  the 

Screw  Propeller.  New  Edition. 

1  vol.    4to Cloth,  9  00 


Cleaveland  &  Backus's  New 
Work  on  Cottage  &  Fan  i 
Architecture.  1  handsome  vo'. 
Svo.  With  100  fine  engraving  i. 

Extra  clotl ,  2  00 

Coles'  Contractors' Book  for 
Working  Drawings  of  Ma  • 
chinery.  Folio Cloth  10  00 

Comings'        Class-Book        of 

Physiology.     12mo 1  00 

Downing,  A.  J.  Architectuiv 
of  Country  Houses.  Includ 
ing  Designs  for  Cottages,  Farn. 
Houses  and  Villas ;  with  remark  ; 
on  Interiors,  Furniture,  and  the 
best  modes  of  Warming  and  Ven 
tilating.  With  320  illustrations.  : 
vol.  Svo Cloth  400 

Field's    City  Architecture.    1 

vol.     Svo.     With  20  engravings. 

Cloth.  2  00 

Fry's  Complete  Treatise  on 
Artificial  Fish-Breeding. 
12mo ...Cloth,  75 

Gillespie's  (Prof.)  Practical 
Treatise  on  Surveying.  1  vol. 
Svo.  With  many  engravings 2  00 

Griffith's  Treatise  on  Marine 
and  Naval  Architecture ; 
or,  Theory  and  Practice 
Blended  in  Ship-Building. 
50  plates Cloth,  10  00 

Green  &  Congdon.  Ana 
lytical  Class-Book  of  Bot 
any.  Illustrated.  1vol.  4to...-  160 

Primary  Class-Book 

of  Botany.    Illustrated.    4to...      75 

Ilaupt,  II.  Theory  of  Bridge 
Construction.  With  practical 
illustrations.  Svo. Cloth,  3  00 

Henrk's  Field-Book  for  Kail- 
road  Engineers.  1  vol.  12rno. 

Tuck,  1  71 


HOME  USE 

CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 
MAIN  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 
1-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling  642-3405. 
6-month  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing  books 

to  Circulation  Desk. 
Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made  4  days  prior 

to  due  date. 

ALL  BOOKS  ARE  SUBJECT  TO  RECALL  7  DAYS 
AFTER  DATE  CHECKED  OUT. 


FE8  23  I97b 


INTERLIBRARY  LOAN 


•- 


OCT  6    1976 


LD21— A-40m-8,'75 
(S7737L) 


General  L 
University  of 

Berke 


LD 

/p7«n1ir"'» 

(El602slO)476B 


General  Library 


YB  20668 


